Catholic Review of: Father Elijah: An Apocalypse

Father Elijah is not just any monk. His past life was a succession of tragedies--he is a survivor of the Holocaust and was formerly a prominent figure in Israel. But he converted to Catholicism and entered a monastery. He has lived a peaceful monastic life near Mount Carmel in Israel for many years but now he has been called upon by the Vatican for a supremely dangerous mission.

 

As a work of Catholic fiction, Father Elijah is excellent. There are moments of calm reflection on the mysteries of the Catholic faith interspersed with scenes of genuine spiritual warfare that are often frighteningly real. The characters are well-drawn and true to life. A couple of them seem like parodies of certain individuals or types within the Catholic Church. The better you know the Church, the more likely you are to chuckle at these characters. The writing is superb and flows well. It is easy to rip through 80 page chunks in one sitting.

 

 

O'Brien is insightful and clearly privy to the undermining effects of modernism which have been gnawing at the Church's foundations for at least the past 100 years. In Father Elijah he creates a mirror-world where certain clerics within the greater Church as well as within the Vatican itself, have embraced the spirit of the world and who view the spirit of God with contempt. There is one scene in particular where the sickly and aging Pope confronts a headstrong Cardinal on this very point and the outcome is striking. One is forced to wonder how many of our prelates in the Church today would act in the same way toward the Pope?

 

Over all, Father Elijah is a thought-provoking read. I highly recommended it to anyone who wants to have a better understanding of the nature of evil and how evil has occasionally donned the guise of goodness and penetrated even the Church itself.

 

You can purchase this book here.