Catholics (novel)
Katholiken is a novel by Brian Moore , published in 1975 by Claassen in Düsseldorf under the title "Insel des Glaubens" . The original was published in 1972 under the title "Catholics" by Jonathan Cape in London.
In the novel, Abbot O'Malley enforces liturgical reform from 1966 against the will of his monks.
action
The young Catholic priest James Kinsella, an American from the Amsterdam Ecumenical Center, sent from Rome , is not welcomed with open arms in western Ireland . He first has to request a helicopter to reach a medieval monastery on the Atlantic island of Muck out of Cahirciveen from the Irish southwest coast . The priest, son of a liberal, wants to appear diplomatically but firmly in the remote abbey. The Abbot Tomás O'Malley, an old St. Alban monk, does not preside over any contemplative order. The monks work as farmers and fishermen. On Mount Coom near Cahirciveen on the Irish coast, the monks continue to celebrate mass in Latin with their backs to the community. The clergy are thus acting against the decisions of the (fictitious) Fourth Vatican Council . Kinsella should stop the hustle and bustle immediately. He is endowed with the necessary powers by General Humbertus von Kleist of the Order of St. Alban. Kinsella could even appoint a new abbot. It doesn't come to that. O'Malley appears hospitable. Only a few monks disagree: the new mass is neither a mystery nor a conversation with God, but a babble with the laity . The abbot, on the other hand, never protests. On the contrary. After forty years as a priest, he admits doubts about his calling. With difficulty he puts the defiant novice master Father Matthew, a gigantic troublemaker, in his place. Kinsella puts the abbot under time pressure. After a brief reflection, O'Malley promises obedience to the reforms. Kinsella is leaving. The abbot faces his monks alone and without protection. He uses his only weapon - prayer. The monks then obey by praying with him.
filming
The novel was filmed for television by Jack Gold based on Brian Moore's screenplay and first aired on November 29, 1973 on the ITV Saturday Night Theater series. Trevor Howard played Abbot O'Malley, Martin Sheen played the priest James Kinsella and Andrew Keir played father Matthew.
German editions
Brian Moore: Catholics. Novel. Translated from the English by Elisabeth Schnack . Diogenes, Zurich 1978, ISBN 3-257-20546-5
Web links
- The TV film in the IMDb
- Review by Claudia Janka-Chapó on September 2, 2003
Individual evidence
- ↑ Source, p. 4 above