CORRESPONDENCE:
PATRICK, S. ANNE E. & McGRORY, (REV.) BARRY & J., (REV.) P. LEBEAU, S. & BOLAND, MARY
CORRESPONDENCE 'New' Catholic Novels Chicago, 111. To the Editors: I was pleased to see Robert E. Lauder's piece on the Catholic novel [Oct. 15] because of its basic affirmation of such fiction...
...For example, Lauder opposes Greene's priests to Percy's doe-tors, noting that "the vocation of doctor is more humble, more ordinary, but it fits Percy's vision of man's living commitment to serve mankind...
...While agreeing with what I take to be Lauder's main point—namely, that such fiction has changed to keep pace with redevelopments in the theological consciousness of the Catholic community since Vatican II—I do, however, find his treatment of the recent Greene somewhat inadequate...
...In The Honorary Consul Greene draws both priest and doctor, and in some measure dissolves the traditional role definitions...
...New York: (Continued on page 374...
...Although it is Father Rivas who celebrates the final Mass, both Charley Fortnum (the honorary British Consul) and Doctor Plarr are depicted as confessors to Rivas...
...Although a case can be made that The Honorary Consul represents new developments in Greene's theological thinking (for example, in its "realized" eschatology and in its hints of a "process" God), Lauder does no more than acknowledge the "popularity" of this book, which has been available for over a year, and which deserves to be ranked among Greene's finest religious novels...
...we are all about to die...
...Conversely, at one juncture Plarr thinks of Rivas as a doctor: "All of us are his patients...
...If he had included an analysis of this 1973 novel, I suspect the contrast Lauder was attempting to establish between Greene and Percy would have been less neat...
...15] because of its basic affirmation of such fiction as well as its focus on two excellent Catholic novelists, Graham Greene and Walker Percy...
...Why does Lauder fail to deal with Greene's most recent novel in any depth...
...Graham Greene, The Honorary Consul...
Vol. 101 • January 1975 • No. 13
