The World, the Flesh, and Father Smith

This is a kindly, sly comedy about a Catholic priest, Father Smith, in an unnamed Scottish industrial town. The tales takes us through 50 years of Father (and eventually Canon) Smith's life, from early in the 20th century into World War Two. It is a gentle tale about the foibles of man and the Catholic Church. Smith is portrayed as a devoutly religious man, sincere in his belief of Catholic philosophy and theology. Through Smith, we get lengthy descriptions of these beliefs and of their value as an ultimate source for good in this world and of their importance as a road to the next. As someone with an abiding suspicion of organized religion in general, I found it interesting to have these ideas presented in such a purely positive show more manner. Being Jewish myself, quite a bit of the philosophizing about Catholic dogma came as educational to me. It was nice to read that there are people who really do try to use these ideas as tools for good in the world. There are times when the good Father comes across, maybe, as a little too good to be true, but as a reader I was willing to forgive this from Marshall.

The most important attributes of this book are that is is, as I've said, kindly and therefore more than a little refreshing, and also that it's funny. As Marsall decribes Smith's journey through life, and his attempts to help his poor and often beset parishioners (the Catholics in Scotland are a minority and often, at least in this telling, a harassed minority), his observations often make us chuckle, such as thusly:

"Canon Smith hadn't been in the Carlton-Elite since five years previously, when he had taken the last sacraments to a dying Portuguese admiral, and he found the vestibule very worldly, with painted young women standing about with their overcoats thrown loosely over their shoulders and smoking with aggressive venom as though they were doing something both wicked and complicated, like committing adultery in Russian."

The book was published in 1945. Marshall was a converted Catholic who served in the British Army in both World Wars, although he lost a leg in the first. This gives weight to his description of Smith's time as a chaplain at the front during WW1. A particularly poignant and painful scene involves Father Smith assuring a scared young soldier that he was fighting for something valuable, and that after the war the world would be quite a different one indeed. Both Smith and the soldier live to learn how hollow this belief would become. This is an entertaining and in some ways enlightening book which I'm glad to have read. show less

A quiet read. A gentle, sometimes sad, look at village life in the first half of the 1900s, with the two world wars serving as, sort of, bookends. I got this book at a library book sale, and it has a lovely, vintage cover showing a village scene, some Catholic leaders and a group of French nuns, who take refuge in this Scottish village during the war. I liked it. I won't actively seek other books by Mr. Marshall, but if I run across one at a library sale or used-books shop, and the plot summary looks interesting, and the price is right .... I'd try him again.

A very simple story about a Roman Catholic priest in Scotland. Beautifully written. Shows the beauty and tragedy of the Roman Catholic Church.

Reminiscent of Lewis and Chesterton

234. The World, the Flesh, and Father Smith, by Bruce Marshall (read 2 Feb 1946) (Book of the Year) (re-read 8 Apr 2010) I first read this account of a Scottish Catholic priest on Feb 2, 1946, and described it as "wonderful, great, true, human and unique. " I re-read it on Apr 8, 2010, and still remembered some of it, and was touched anew. It relates the priestly career of a (fictional) Scottish priest during his career from the early 1900's to his death in war-time Scotland in the 1940's It is poignant and one cannot help but tremendously admire Father Smith and feel he spent very little time in Purgatory.

Very Catholic

Nonostante sia stato scritto quasi un secolo fa, al di là delle situazioni contingenti, è un libro dalle tematiche e dalle tensioni sempre attuale.