Two Catholic devotional mainstays—the slightly gauzy hagiography of a devout individual, and the practice of following the "Stations of the Cross"—are brought together here. Kennedy (The Unhealed Wound), a psychologist, syndicated columnist and former priest, was also good friend to Chicago's Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. He watched closely as the last 14 months of the Cardinal's life "reprised the stations of the cross"—from being judged unjustly (of sexual abuse) to a last meeting with his mother to a very public death (of pancreatic cancer). With a substantial vocabulary, a lyrical style and a liberal outlook, Kennedy describes each station of the cross in two parts, Then and Now. "Then" is Kennedy's poetic description of a Jerusalem Friday 2,000 years ago. A few pages at a time, he retells Jesus' story, highlighting certain themes and filling in many details absent from the terse biblical narratives. In the "Now" sections, Kennedy tells a spiritually parallel chapter from the story of Bernardin's life, drawing our attention to the Cardinal's entrance into the "Mystery of Life as It Is." That life, Kennedy writes, is marked by suffering and sorrow—and through God's participation in it, by salvation, too. Despite a summer release, this book would be an excellent companion to the erudite Catholic or the curious Protestant's Lenten devotional journey. (July)
