PROPHET OF REUNION: The Life of Paul of Graymoor

An ample biography of Fr. Paul Wattson, founder of the Society of the Atonement and forerunner of the ecumenical movement, admiringly written by two Graymoor friars. A turn-of-the-century Episcopalian priest, single-handedly upholding the validity of both Anglican orders and papal primacy, he campaigned relentlessly and against all odds for Anglican reconciliation with Rome. He founded a religious order (along with Mother Lurana White) dedicated to this end, and it joined the Roman Church in 1909. He was a man of many parts, often contradictory: a conservative Catholic championing Protestant/Catholic reunion; a quiet man of prayer who was a spellbinding preacher via pulpit, print, and radio; a super fund raiser who refused to touch money and had trouble balancing his order's books; a humble man with grandiose ambition. Tolerably well written but uncritical, and the occasional attempts to probe Wattson's complex personality tend toward a kind of pious hagiography which substitutes old nun's tales for revelations.