A critique of Catholic integrism (extreme Traditionalism) as espoused by people like Christopher Ferrara, Michael Matt, John Vennari, Fr. Nicholas Gruner, Atila Guimaraes, Marian Horvat.

"His monograph "Traditionalists", Tradition, And Private Judgement is, in my view, the best primer on the 'traditionalist' movement out there. I would, without hesitation, recommend it highly to anyone looking for a succinct overview of the 'traditionalist' movement as a whole. ---Greg Mockeridge

"Stephen Hand... is an excellent author and has been very well-respected; his expositions on the ultra-Traditionalist movement may very well be the best there is." ---Catholic Culture.org

Eschatological Time

Table of Contents 1.The Exquisite Intuition of Being 2. Living in Eschatological Time 3. Christ Came to Perfect the Law: The Matter of War 4. The Christian and the Absurd 5. Christian Proclamation in a Post-Modern World: Reason or Encounter? 6. Christian Groans and the Reform of the Reform 7. Ruminating on Laughter, Predestination and Mystery 8. Growing Older... 9. Time of Mercy, the Layperson, and Healing for All Peoples 10. The Catholic Church of the Future 11. 12. Some Are Afraid to Come Home 13. Miscellanious Musings Traditional Catholic Reflections and Reports ---TCRNews.com

Faith, Liturgy and Social Justice

Liberals have no monopoly whatsover on social justice and traditionalists have no monopololy whatsoever on doctrinal integrity. But the Church of Christ overcomes the errors in both camps, while serving the poor and proclaiming doctrinal faithfulness. Faith, Liturgy and Social Justice, now available, points the way out of the maze and propaganda of the factions. 23 packed chapters on the problems posed by the errors of Neo-modernist dissidents and schismatic traditionalists (Integrists), also by modern atheism, agnosticism, post-modernism, Catholic preferential love for the poor and "losers," and more.

Faith, Liturgy, and Social Justice: "Stephen Hand has done us a favor in collecting many of his essays from his web magazine TCRnews.com. His is a powerful voice for Catholic orthodoxy that is completely loyal to all of the Church's official teachings. Moreover, he has a strong personal bond, like so many others, to the witness of John Paul II. His essays also show his strong attachment to the work of Cardinal Ratzinger. In fact, my favorite essay is his commentary on Ratzinger's Dominus Iesus concerning the unique salvific role of Christ (Ch. 15, pp. 84-88). For those tempted by right wing rejectionists of John Paul II, this book will help you avoid the dead end of such a posture. For those who have been unduly influenced by so-called "liberals" and "progressives," his essays will call you back to the genuine faith without abandoning your commitment to social justice. The hopeful tone of his approach can be seen in these words which resonate with so many of us in modern America: "When the consequences of wrong choices and dead ends come home to roost, the Church will be there to welcome all those who have strayed into the vortex; and she will recatechize from the beginning again" (Ch. 15, p. 88).

"Hand's work on and off the internet is an encouraging sign of the resurgence of Catholic orthodoxy in post-modern America. Don't miss it. ---Oswald Sobrino

Chapters: 1. A Sacred Space 2. Catholic Ecumenism 3. Catholic Tradition: A Mediated Gift 4. The Contemplation of His Weakness 5. Time for Moral Inventory in the West 6. Total Eclipse: "Straying as Through Infinite Nothingness" 7. Deconstructing John Allen 8. The New prophets of Doom 9. Daily Mass for Workers 10. The Mass and Social Justice 11. Rediscovering Our Liturgical Joy 12. The Liturgical Reforms of Pope St. Pius X 13. To Whose Competence Does It Belong to Interpret Vatican II? 14. The Liturgical and Spiritual Centrality of the Crucifix 15. Dominus Iesus and Kaleidoscopic Pluralism 16. The Church's proclamation and Dissident Indifferentism 17. Reason, Futility and Hope 18. The Wedding Feast of the Poor in Spirit 19. Dorothy Day Would Turn Over in Her Grave 20. The Progressivist's Choice: Jesus Dead or Alive 21. The Image of God vs. Animality 22. The Revelation of God in Jesus Christ and Threads of Grace 23. The New Pseudo-Praxis

The Green Pail (an Irish Tale) by Stephen Hand

"Both my wife and I loved your book The Green Pail!" ---David Jones, Nouvelle Theologie blog

The Green Pail: "One hears the sea birds through the panes of small wind-cleaned windows, smells last night's supper as one noses around the books and bottles, avoids the creaky part of the wood floors lest one disturb the holy magic of morning, remains very still amidst the flow of silent smiles. Leo and Lena are the most intense couple in all of Ireland, but only they and we know it. I wanted a green pail of my own after reading of them.. It is enough, however, to have laughed and cried with them...---Carol O'Reilly

Catholic Literary Revival, October 19, 2000

Reviewer: Matthew Anger

Gifts Unexpected:

In Gifts Unexpected, Stephen Hand traces the lives of a young girl and her divorced parents. We are immediately confronted with people are who are morally ambivalent. Stock "good" and "evil" characters might do for a fantasy piece or detective story, but a serious novel must deal by and large with people who evince a quantity of mixed behavior. This is not to say there are no saints (or devils). We witness a truly holy individual in the guise of the urban hermit priest named Fr. Joseph. Even then, saints are not people who tread the ground without getting dust on their feet or who are utterly deprived of the human mannerisms that we find so congenial.

On the other hand, a less than saint-like character is Juan, the operator of a bar in a bad part of town. His establishment is frequented by loose women and he sports tattoos in doubtful taste, but he also does a good turn for a infirm old lady who rents a room above his bar, who is one of Fr. Joseph's spiritual charges. To describe such ambivalence is not to endorse it. The question is not one of the object but of its treatment. A believing Catholic and a liberal atheist can both approach the topic of suicide with all its grim facts but draw from it very different conclusions. This was clear in the divergence of Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene, two very modern novelists, who were once good friends until it became clear to Waugh just how infected Greene was with the worldly spirit that was spreading in the post-war Church. Piers Paul Read says of their reactions to Vatican II:

Waugh saw it as a total disaster: "Pray God I will never apostasise".... Greene, on the other hand, appears to have entered into "the spirit of Vatican II".... [and embraced] Karl Rahner's notion of "anonymous Christianity" in novels such as A Burnt Out Case and The Honorary Consul. Beyond Evil

In the hands of a devout writer like Mr. Hand, complex characterization helps us to understand ourselves through the lives of others. One is reminded of Fr. Frederick Faber's wonderful sermon "On Not Taking Scandal." While we should never "give scandal" to others through our behavior, Fr. Faber was also telling us that to be a Christian is not to go about clucking our tongues about others' bad behavior like the Scribes and Pharisees. While we must judge situations and respond appropriately, we cannot judge a person's hidden intentions or always be fully aware of why they act the way they do. In Gifts Unexpected, the dysfunctionality of the divorced parents is now considered so normal as to be mundane, yet their lives are set on a course for spiritual self-destruction. In considering their faults, however, we may well reflect on our own past actions, especially if we are converts or reverts to the Faith.

The approach to evil in a Catholic story is neither to ignore nor to wallow in it, but to move beyond it. The debauched modern who wants to share his spiritual misery with others exults in the idea of triumphant evil, like the seventeen remakes of slasher films where the immortal psycho-killer rises again and again to claim more victims in an on-screen orgy of blood. The film-makers seek to mock death. Because they cannot truly cope with the fact of evil they must ridicule life and virtue. By sharp contrast, Gifts Unexpected preaches a message of redemption. Mr. Hand puts the following words into the mouth of Fr. Joseph, who is consoling a mother on the loss of her child: "When evil temporarily prevails, our hearts rebel, and we cry out to the Heart of the universe. Our hearts do not lie when we cry out against such evil. This rebelling, this outrage, this collapsing into tears and thirst for justice is the proof that the Promise, the Gift, is true; it is proof... that evil is an intrusion into God's good creation, and not something normal." The Catholic understands the classical concept of tragedy. It is the idea that the goodness inherent in the person or the action transcends any material loss that may be suffered. This stands at the very opposite pole from the prideful self-pitying that is the raison d'tre of modern "art," wherein the individual denies reliance on anything greater than himself and thus even self-destruction, as an assertion of one's own "empowerment," is preferable to dependence on some outside, greater good. Undoubtedly the theologians are right when they say we create our own Hell.

In contrast to the modernist mood, Mr. Hand's objective is to "work Traditional Catholicism back into the world via stories." He has succeeded admirably in a book whose strength lies in its powerful understatement, its realistic suspense and its honesty. Gifts Unexpected is a heartening revival of that Catholic literature which was a respected and influential force in the days when all action, including cultural endeavors, was seen as part of the overall missionary imperative. ---Matthew Anger

Stephen Hand, Writings, Collections, Novels for a Postmodern World

Stephen Hand is editor of TCRNews.com. He lives and writes in Massachusetts.

Theotokos Catholic Books - Book Reviews Section - www.theotokos.org.uk