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Pat Leonard served throughout the Great War as a Chaplain to the Forces in France, Belgium and, after the Armistice, in Germany. Along with the many hundreds of letters he wrote to the relatives of those parishioners who died or were wounded, he found time to describe for his parents back at home the awful reality of life in the Trenches, and on the makeshift aerodromes from which the pilots of the Royal Flying Corps operated from the Observers seat which liberated his spirit from the mud of Flanders. Very much a front-line priest, his descriptions provide an unusually objective view of army life, and of the job of the multitasked chaplain who was expected to undertake the roles of counselor, comforter, caterer, censor, entertainment officer and sports supreme to name but a few. The extracts selected from his letters are full of detail, humor, self deprecation and just sometimes when judged by todays standards, mild political incorrectness! Known as a veritable fighting parson (because of his prowess in the boxing ring) he also played rugby for the RAF, was mentioned in dispatches, and was decorated for bravery. 90 years have passed before this opportunity arises to share his account of a life which the world remembers as dreadful beyond belief. Reading it demonstrates that despite the ghastliness, human qualities emerged with which we should all be proud. Pat Leonard was born in 1889 into a clergy family in Cumbria, MPG (Pat) Leonard went from being Head of School at Rossall to Oriel College, Oxford on a mathematics scholarship. After graduating and obtaining a TA Commission in the Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, Leonard served as a curate in a Manchester parish before being accepted as Chaplain to the 8th Battalion, the Kings Own, from September 1915 in the battlefields of the Somme Awarded the DSO for bravery and mentioned in dispatches, he transferred to the RFC in early 1918. After the war he was much involved in the development and growth of TocH throughout the world. Subsequently after a period as Rector of Hatfield and ten years in Glasgow as Provost of St. Marys Cathedral he was consecrated Bishop of Thetford in 1953.
"The fighting padre is a collection of extracts from Pat Leonard's letters which provide an exceptional description of life in the front line. They were written during his service as a chaplain to the forces in France, Belgium, and, after the Armistice, in Germany. Leonard served through the Great War with the infantry and Royal Flying Corps. Along with the many hundreds of letters he wrote to the relatives of those 'parishioners' who died or were wounded, he found time to describe for his parents back home the awful reality of life in the trenches. Later he wrote from the Royal Flying Corps' makeshift aerodromes which, despite the great danger of aerial combat, 'liberated his spirit' from the mud of Flanders"--Jacket.
"Father Edward Bastien was known in each of his South Texas parishes as a priest who would happily join in his parishioners' latest plumbing or electrical battles at home at the same time that he worked toward their spiritual well-being at church. But only when he arrived in the poor border town of Zapata, soon to be flooded by the building of the U.S.-Mexico Falcon Dam, did his tenacious efforts to help his parishioners fight the battle of their lives earn him the honorary moniker of the Fighting Father of Zapata." "Maria Rollin knew Father Bastien when she was a child. He gave her family a copy of his Zapata letters interspersed with his personal musings and anecdotes of the events of that time. Later Rollin realized that this man's manuscript is a humorous yet powerful personal account of bureaucracy gone amok, of poor South Texans forced into a diaspora, and of a priest who was willing to fight for the temporal as well as the spiritual needs of those who had no voice. This is his story."--BOOK JACKET.
Relive one man's dedication and determination to increase the quality of life for residents in east central California from the early 1900s through the Depression years. You'll meet and fall in love with Father John J. Crowley--a monumental man in his devotion and faith in God, his determination to fight for causes that would better the common man, and his vivacious attitude toward life. Until now, the story of one of the California desert's most dominant figures of the early twentieth century was fated to slip into anonymity. Here you'll discover his devotion to the spiritual and economic welfare of the people in the Owens Valley and Death Valley regions through vignettes told by his parishioners, friends, and relatives. Many of Father Crowley's weekly "Sage and Tumbleweed" columns enrich this historical account by glimpsing into his thoughts and actions. This intriguing biography will engage historians, people of all faiths, and lovers of true literary prose. It will revive your spiritual and community allegiance while entertaining you with the story of a real man among men.--From publisher description.
We are imprisoned in circadian rhythms, as well as in our life reviews that follow chronological and causal links. For the majority of us our lives are vectors directed toward aims that we strive to reach and delimited by our birth and death. Nevertheless, we can still experience fleeting moments during which we forget the past and the future, as well as the very flow of time. During these intense emotions, we burst out laughing or crying, or we scream with pleasure, or we are mesmerized by a work of art or just by eyes staring at us. Similarly, when we watch a film, the screening time has a well defined beginning and end, and screening and diegetic time and their relations, together with narrative and stylistic techniques, determine a time within the time of our life with its own rules and exceptions. Through the close analysis of Stanley Kubrick's, Adrian Lyne's, Michael Bay's and Quentin Tarantino's oeuvres, this book discusses the overall 'dominating' time of their films and the moments during which this 'ruling' time is disrupted and we momentarily forget the run toward the diegetic future – suspense – or the past – curiosity and surprise. It is in these very moments, as well as in our own lives, that the prison of time, through which the film is constructed and that is constructed by the film itself, crumbles displaying our role as spectators, our deepest relations with the film.
The case is very different behind the lines. There, indeed, we see the seamy side of war. There are the men who, in some way or other, have secured and keep safe jobs, the embusqués whom the French newspapers constantly denounce. There are the officers who have failed, proved unfit for command, shown themselves lacking in courage perhaps, and in mercy have been sent down to some safe base. There are the men who have been broken in spirit as well as in body, who drag on an existence utterly dull, very toilsome, well-nigh hopeless, and are illuminated by no high call for heroic deeds. There the observer sees whatever there is to be seen of petty spite and jealousies, the manipulating of jobs, the dodging of regulations, all that is most ignoble in the soldier's trade. There also are the men with grievances, who, in their own estimation, are fit for posts quite other than those they hold. Some one described war at the front as an affair of months of boredom punctuated by moments of terror. If that philosopher had been stationed at a base he might have halved his epigram and described war as months of boredom unpunctuated even by terror.
A short and inspiring spiritual biography of St. Pio of Pietrelcina written from the first hand experience of the author as his spiritual son, Fr. Stefano M. Manelli. The 148-page book on the recently beatified Padre Pio is packed with details about his life, spirituality and charisms, by one who knew the Padre intimately. The author qualifies as a spiritual son of Padre Pio in a number of ways. He grew up in a family which had a close relationship with the new Blessed. Padre Pio was the author's spiritual director. Padre Pio spoke of the Manelli family as "my family." Fr. Stefano turned to Padre Pio for guidance in establishing a new Franciscan community, the Franciscans of the Immaculate.