BOOK REVIEWS

Catholic Answers
and More

by Dan Giroux

by James J. Drummey

with forward by Charles Rice

C.R. Publications

463 pp.

1-800-879-4214.

With the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) in 1994, any concerned Catholic with moral, dogmatic, or other faith-related questions has now the resource book to turn to, the "final word." That is because this catechism was officially published, and promulgated, by the Holy See and is thus "a statement of the Church's faith and of Catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition, and the Church's Magisterium." Pope John Paul II declared it to be a "sure norm for teaching the faith." When the obvious, critical problem in our country today is an all-pervasive "crisis of faith," the significance of this work -both in it's timeliness and importance - cannot be overstated.

All the answers to life's troubling and vexing questions are not to be found under the cover of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, however. Particularly in America, where Catholic individuals and families are surrounded by a culture of death and where the local ecclesial establishment is sometimes at odds with the Holy See, practical everyday questions constantly arise as to what do we say, where do we go, to whom do we turn.

Many of these questions are taken up in a recently released book entitled, Catholic Replies, by James R. Drummey. It is a compilation of his Question and Answer columns from the Catholic weekly, The Wanderer. This exhaustive, 463 page work contains responses to over 1,000 questions on or related to the faith. From some of the most vexing and complicated queries to the seemingly obscure, Mr. Drummey tackles them "all." He sometimes even goes where the angels fear to tread, yet in the end leaves inquirers with the answer they were seeking - the Catholic one.

That is because Mr. Drummey bases his answers extensively on official Church documents, such as Vatican II Documents, encyclicals, apostolic letters, the Code of Canon Law, and chiefly, since 1994, the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He is constantly referring, also, to works by esteemed, orthodox writers like Fr. John Hardon and Msgr. William Smith. Indeed, if one was looking for a resource book that would lead you directly to the chief Catholic reference for specific questions regarding the faith, this would be a good place to start.

Whether it is the toughest moral questions of the day such as abortion, contraception, the death penalty, in vitro fertilization, homosexuality, etc., or the scores of alleged Marian apparitions, or "controversial" figures such as Frs. Feeney and Coughlin, Mr. Drummey always begins his answers referencing the primary, if not secondary, Church document relating to the question. When sometimes he is forced to rely on his own opinion to satisfy a query, you are at least assured that it has been well-formed by the magisterial teaching of Holy Mother Church.

Today, there are a number of Catholic teachings that are frequently misunderstood, if not outright mistaught, such as baptism of desire, salvation outside the Church, and natural family planning. Mr. Drummey tackles these subjects head-on and explains these teachings clearly and thoroughly, by publishing together numerous similar questions (yet personally different) on these topics and then answering them all together one after another. By the time you have read the last answer on a subject, the combination of repetition and looking at it from different angles, the reader knows the Church's position on a question. It is up to them, then, to accept it or not.

On a few occasions, though, I did find myself differing with some of Mr. Drummey's prudential assessments. One example of this was when he saw nothing wrong with Catholics contributing to the charitable work of Masonic Shriners or jointly participating with Masonic lodges on community service projects. Since these charitable projects of the Masons (burn hospitals and the like) form, if you will, their propaganda facade, or "mask," to societal credibility, Mr. Drummey should have warned against such actions. Pope Leo XIII challenged concerned Catholics in Humanum Genus to "tear away the mask from Freemasonry, and let it be seen as it really is." If one contributes financially to their charities, or collaborates otherwise with them, one is helping to fortify this "mask," rather than tear it away as Pope Leo XIII pleaded with us to do.

Mr. Drummey's closing paragraphs on many topics present the reader with some of the most enjoyable, and edifying, passages in this recommendable book. This would be where he offers up a personal advisory, or evaluation, of a related subject. While many of these were excellent, one such example bears repeating:

"This is all part of an unfortunate trend in recent years toward a trivialization of sin and of the ordinary means provided by Christ and His Church to have our sins forgiven. There is very little talk from the pulpit about sin, or about the importance of receiving the sacrament of Penance frequently, even though the Holy Father has urged a strong emphasis on both. With evil so rampant in society today, there is a need for more preaching about sin and for more priests like St. John Vianney."

Amen, Mr. Drummey. Amen.

Dan Giroux is a writer living in Cincinnati, Ohio.