A moving and highly personal account of Roman Catholic priest Morrissey's work with the terminally ill as a member of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York City. Wading through the city's embattled regions and upscale high- rise zones, Morrissey and fellow members of the Hospice Program visit dying people of all faiths and cultures in the intimacy of their homes and families. Morrissey introduces us to 13 of his patients and writes with rare human insight and respect. We feel privileged to encounter Isha, an Ethiopian Christian who, Morrissey says, danced with her eyes when she was no longer able to move her body; Pedro, an AIDS patient whose spirit was healed by a ritual anointing with oil; Elmo, a wheelchair-bound teenager whose imagination stretched from comic book superheroes to heaven; and Candida, who dealt with her suffering through a strange dynamic of self-sacrifice and manipulation. The death of the author's own mother is a backdrop to these stories, and he describes his personal difficulties and growth with an almost brutal honesty. He shows us that it is often the caregiver who receives life and love while fostering life and a link with the world of the spirit in the dying person. We learn that the dying have much to tell us about our own ways of relating and separating, of holding on and letting go. A realistic yet positive approach to the great questions of death and life, the value of the human person, and faith.
Pub Date: April 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-8245-1408-4
Page Count: 276
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1994
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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