Winter Past: The Spirit of Hope,
by John O’Brien
(Multyfarnham Friary, €15.00)
Fr John O’Brien will be a familiar writer to many readers; he is one of the Franciscans down in Multyfarnham Friary who pursue their vocations in an energetic way. This little book is very typical of his work, and all the better for that perhaps. The theme might be summarised: “In God’s Spirit of love all of us belong and our lives have meaning.”
Fr O’Brien is, however, very alert to the way of the world and how love finds expression in it. The book opens with one of Leonard Cohen’s compositions. So far this is familiar ground. But he then turns in a different direction to present the person of Andy Warhol no less.
A photo shows the artist serving the homeless of New York city, helping out in an Episcopalian church of the Heavenly Rest, serving coffee, food and as well sharing in the clearing up.
The author emphasises the background in a Catholic culture of the artist, whose people were attached to the John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church (of the Byzantine Ruthenian rite). This Catholic heritage has been explored by Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, who noted that “all his really important works were icons – figures to be venerated”.
O’Brien notes that as a gay man life was not easy for Warhol. But this also emphasises that we should all of us not be too quick to judge – a habit that the social media have made worse these days.
This evocation of a “secret Catholic” is important to Fr O’Brien’s text. He sees Warhol as presenting in his own way “the alternative world of the spirit.”
The book is laid out in some seven chapters, each of which evokes familiar figures such as St Thérèse of Lisieux and Dr Jacob Bronowski, but gives them a different appraisal than is usual.
This is not the sort of book that needs to be read carefully from end to end. Rather it is one of those meditative and inquiring books that can be picked and read on from any point.
Fr O’ Brien’s books can be obtained from the Friary at Multyfarnham. This friary was founded in 1269, and its continuity down to this day is impressive. It has survived by adapting itself to the needs of each turn of change.
