The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-10-24
WIDE VARIETY OF
 BOOKS DISCUSSED
Rev. J. s. Kennedy Talks on Important Current
 Biographies

Last night at the Waterbury Catholic High School auditorium Rev. John s, Kennedy, associate editor of the Catholic Transcript discussed several current hiograph- les, some contemporary, others dealing with the past, He pretaeed his book analyses py saying that 1t would be well at the present time to look at the lives of some of the persons featured in these biograph- les and AutohiogrNphies with so many difficulties facing us and likely to face us In the future,
 A wide variety of personages were presented by Father Kennedy, some persons of the present time such Rs Thomas Frederick Price and James Anthony Walsh, pioneers in the Catholic missionary field. Both these men as related ln the book, '"rar Heel Apostle" by John Mur- rett, laid the foundation for Q solid foreign missionary program. Both Father Price and Bishop Walsh were temperamentally endowed to carry on this work, the former spending his earlier years In antl- Catholic North Carolina, the latter in Boston, Through the efforts of both, Father Kennedy said, was laid the foundation of MaFyknoll which has the finest training in this field, Father Price, he said, Is e potential saint,
 Another biography that has excel. lent material and deals also with holy men and women, but of an earlier era, and highly recommend cd by Father Kennedy was "Se- cretS of the Saints" by Henri Cheon, Among the saints included and mentioned briefly last night were the "Cure d'Ars", Q saintly,, ineonspicu- ous man, who was described by the speaker as Q marvellous director Of soulS," his day, an amazing one Of work and prayer, St. John Bosoo was another lovable character ap. pealing from Q modern point Of view, expert on juvenile delinquen. cy, c friend of "the beaten child" Other saints mentioned briefly were Margaret Mary, and the Little Flower of LiseuX,
 An autobiography that goes back to the late l4th and early 18th een- turies and described as quite e re- markable look discussed by Father Kennedy was The Book of Margery Kempe," an autobiography which was lost for about i've hun. dred years, found in our times and modernized from the original text of Chaucerian period English. Mar gery Kempe was Q women of great stamina, mother of fourteen chil- dren, who made many pngrimages and preached widely.
 Immortal Wife," by Irving Stone and Westward the Women" by Nancy Wilson Ross were two inc portant biographies dealing with American pioneering, the former the story of John and Jessie Fremont, important in its accurate historical facts, which deals with the mapping of the west, present two characters whose lives were spectacularly ac- tive; the latter presents to the reader the indomitable courage of women who pioneered in the early days and underwent hardships and privatlons.
 Father Kennedy concluded with a short resume of Maura Laverty's newest novel No More Than Hu- man." which he does not consider to have much substance, but good style in writing and excellent char acterizations, continuing the story of Della Scully in Never No More"
 Next week Father Kennedy will speak on books that deal with war and peace.