Fr Brian D’Arcy has reviewed my latest book, Unity Pilgrim: The Life of Fr Gerry Reynolds CSsR.
Writing in the Sunday World with the headline ‘Reynolds’ Vision for a Better Day’, D’Arcy said in part:
A book arrived in the post which is a stern reminder that life is passing more quickly than I want. This is a book in tribute to a former work colleague back in the 70s, Fr Gerry Reynolds CSsR.
It seems like only yesterday we both worked in a thriving Catholic Communications Centre in Booterstown in Dublin.
Gerry was editor of the priests’ magazine Intercom and I was teaching journalism and broadcasting to young priest, some from Ireland but most of them from Africa and India.
We trained hundreds of enthusiastic applicants from all over the world. It was a living Church back then and modern communications was in its infancy. Vatican II had just ended and there was hope everywhere.
D’Arcy contrasts this to the opening of my book, which emphasizes the decline of the Catholic Church while at the same time recognizing Fr Gerry’s more hopeful vision for it. He quotes from Unity Pilgrim:
But beneath the surface of this religious landscape, some Christians have had creative, ambitious visions for Irish Christianity. One of these Christians was Fr Gerry Reynolds.
He continues:
It’s a directly told story of Gerry’s life, especially his years in Clonard in Belfast and is a fitting tribute to a decent man, a lifelong pilgrim, and a dedicated Redemptorist priest.