Book Reviews: GOD MADE Us FOR GLORY. By James McLoughlin. Dublin: Clonmore and Reynolds. Price 3/6

Abstract

This is a course of instruction on the Catholic faith. It first appeared in The Furrow. The author's purpose is clearer here when all the parts are gathered together than when they appeared at first. He aims to provide a clear outline of the faith that would be simple, positive and attractive. Well-worn themes receive a new freshness when they are passed through the alembic of Father McLoughlin's mind. He presents the faith not just as a body of unconnected truths; it is made clear how they all spring from the Gospel story and that they convey a message of the greatest import.Here then is a grand manual for the young student, for the convert, and for Catholic Action groups of all kinds. It is quite surprising how much is attractively conveyed in these chapters, of which there are six: God's gift and its loss; God gives laws to guide us; God sent His Son to save us; Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life; Jesus established a Church; the Church in the world today. Within this framework an adult and modern picture of Catholicism is given. E. LONG SECULAR INSTITUTES. By J. M. Perrin, O.P. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1961.Pp. 122. Price 10/-. History shows us clearly the distinction between Christian perfection and the diverse institutions and techniques brought into existence for its attainment. The earlier institutions favoured physical separation from the world as most conducive to that spiritual abandonment demanded by the Gospel teaching. This state of exile underwent a new interpretation when the mendicants chose the towns as sites for their monasteries. The canons regular followed the lead and combined monastic residence with a more nomadic apostolate. Later daring innovations sponsored by St. Vincent de Paul, Mary Ward and others, lowered the wall of separation between the cloister and the world without in any way abating the obligation of seeking perfection for those who felt the urge,to exercise their talents and energies in closer contact with the faithful. In our own time the Holy Spirit has inspired men to discover new forms of spiritual organisation and the secular institute brings associations of men and women into still closer contact with the world. The common life has been dispensed with and the associates may be subject to divers obediences. Yet they constitute a state of perfection and are bound by the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience which are the hallmark of the religious life.. Father Perrin treats of this new development as a phenomenon in the progress of religious perfection. Commenting on the two papal documents Provida Mater Ecclesia and Primo Feliciter which constitute the charter of the movement, he uncovers the foundations which lie beneath the