From: "Christopher Culver" <new_sun@hotmail.com>
Subject: (whorl) Re: Digest whorl.v012.n066
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 18:01:05 

For the record, I'm Catholic. I was an atheist when I was younger, but 
Graham Greene's novel _The Power and the Glory_ and a great deal of prayer 
brought me into the Church. The BotNS had its part in that whole process, 
too, especially such things as Severian's epiphany beside Ocean.

gerbil <james.kellar@quantel.com> wrote:
<<Just a thought - What do you think about the possibility that Wolfe's work 
is intended, if not to convert people, but at least to make them think more 
favourably of his own religion?>>

Although that was addressed to Blattid, I'd like to add my own two cents.

The Catholic elements in Wolfe's works are almost entirely concerned with 
the sacraments, and with the relationship between *individuals* and the 
Pancreator. There are none of the "political" elements that make the Church 
unpleasant for many non-Catholics. It is the Catholic (universal) Church not 
because it has a universal presence among (and responsibility to) the human 
community, but because the sacraments are represented everywhere in the 
universe, bound to natural law. Issues of Church hierarchy, and that whole 
supreme pontiff thing that makes many critics unsatisfied with Catolicism, 
are not present in Wolfe's work. With such a technique, Wolfe can't help but 
make Catholicism look a little more palatable.

Christopher CULVER <new_sun@hotmail.com>
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com


*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.
*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.moonmilk.com/whorl/
*To leave the list, send "unsubscribe" to whorl-request@lists.best.com
*If it's Wolfe but not Long Sun, please use the URTH list: urth@lists.best.com