June 2012

The Legacy of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.: His Words and His Witness

By Anne-Marie Kirmse, O.P., and Michael M. Ca­naris

Publisher: Fordham University Press

Pages: 152

Price: $45

Review Author: Clara Sarrocco

In The Legacy of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.: His Words and His Witness, Sr. Anne-Marie Kirmse, Cardinal Dulles’s research associate and executive assistant for 10 years, and Michael Canaris, administrator at Fairfield University’s Center for Faith and Public Life, have compiled and edited an important research guide for scholars and students interested in theology and philosophy and the influence Cardinal Dulles has had on the Church in the U.S. and the Church at large after Vatican II.

The book contains a bibliography of all Cardinal Dulles’s writings over his 50-year career as professor, author, theologian, and philosopher. Listed and annotated are his 25 books, 800 articles and essays, reviews and letters to the editor, forewords, introductions, and translations. The bibliography begins with his early career while a student at the prestigious Choate school and ends with his last book, published in 2009. Cardinal Dulles’s essays and articles appeared in the most eminent theological and philosophical journals. Anyone who wishes to do research or just satisfy an interest will welcome such a carefully annotated listing of all his many writings in one place.

The second half of the book contains an early 1952 lecture, in which Cardinal Dulles gave a small insight into what led him to the Catholic Church; his touching, final McGinley lecture, which had to be read aloud by another because Cardinal Dulles could no longer speak; the moving sermon given by Edward Cardinal Egan at Cardinal Dulles’s funeral Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral; the homily at his rite of Christian burial in Auriesville, New York; and, most touching of all, Sr. Anne-Marie’s personal recollections of Dulles’s last days, his incredible suffering, and his peaceful death.

The editors have given us an invaluable and useful guide to the writings and thoughts of Avery Cardinal Dulles, as well as a companion to his collection of McGinley lectures published as Church and Society (Fordham University Press, 2008). It is a book to be cherished and appreciated by scholars and all interested persons for years to come.