Father Samways Hitliste

P. Patrick Samway SJ, ehemaliger Literatur-Redakteur von America und Biograph von Walker Percy, hat vor einigen Jahren seine eigenen Top-Ten-Catholic-Novels aufgelistet - hier sind sie zum Nachlesen.

Zur Terminologiefrage sagt er:

In much the same way that I am not sure that Catholic mathematics or Catholic watercolors exist, so too I am not sure about putting too much stock in the category of "Catholic novels." I do know that there are Catholic authors who write novels, but can we call their novels "Catholic?" Since the word Catholic is not under copyright, what does it mean exactly? Should the definition of Catholic be restricted to someone who has been baptized in a Roman Catholic Church? Or is more at stake? What do you call someone baptized in this church but who no longer believes what the Roman Catholic Church teaches? Can a novel by such a person be called a "Fallen-Away Catholic Novel"? And is there such a creature as a "Uniate Catholic Novel"?

By posing such questions, I merely want to open up - and not restrict - any discussion about Catholic novels, particularly in suggesting that, in my view, it might be legitimate to call a novel Catholic/catholic if it dramatizes a view of the world that provides an opportunity for the reader to enter in some reflective way into the mysterious plan that God has for his people.