Book Notes
By: Joan Ruddiman
In the language of evangelical Christians, Peggy Noonan is "reborn." In keeping with her Irish Catholic traditions, Noonan describes her return to her Catholic roots as becoming "an ardent or a loving or an engaged Catholic." The catalyst for her becoming a "reborn Catholic," if you will, was the spiritual leadership of John Paul II. The biography she writes of the man is equally a memoir of her own spiritual journey.
The title is her statement of belief. She makes the case through biographic analysis that he was "John Paul the Great." The coda, "Remembering a Spiritual Father," reveals her intent to connect her life to the arc his papacy.
Noonan is very much a woman of the world. She was a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, has been a longtime columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and often handles political commentary on television news shows. She is one of those conservative writers who attract the like minded as well as those who lean more left because of her smooth style and sharp insights. On television, viewers see an attractive blond who ably represents the Right with a graciousness that’s hard not to like. She makes a point of finding what is likable in her political opponents.
Noonan is the author of several best-selling books. "When Character Was King," reviewed by Book Notes several years ago, is classic Noonan. She adored Reagan and makes a case why she did and why history will acknowledge him as a great president. Her first book, "What I Saw at the Revolution," is also classic Noonan the savvy political pundit who examines the successes and failings of the Reagan presidency.
Reviewers of "John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father" favorably note the duality of Noonan’s assessment of the man and his leadership. As with Reagan, Noonan can openly adore yet she pulls no punches in pointing out the failings that cloud the sunny successes.
Linking John Paul II with Reagan is not a stretch for Noonan. What she most admires in these men, as well as who she sees as the third power player of that era Margaret Thatcher is that "all three understood the power of embodying your belief and bringing it forward." In an interview with George Will in 2005, Noonan expanded on this sense of power.
"They also understood the power of not caring what the New York Times thinks of you… the power of doing what you are certain is correct, moving forward."
Reagan, John Paul II and Thatcher stood up to the Soviet Union, daring to say and do what no other leaders of the late 20th century were willing to say or do against the "other super power." Like Dorothy in Oz, they pulled back the curtain revealing that the wizard had no power.
The story of Karol Wojtyla man, priest, cardinal, pope is wrapped in 20th century history of terror and totalitarianism. As a Pole, Wojtyla was born into grief created by the Nazis and the Russians. Noonan believes, as do millions of others, that this Polish Pope was destined had long been predicted. Central to the story/myths is that the Soviet Communism fell during his watch was doomed by his watch. Noonan capably tells this part of the story. She is street smart enough to center the mysticism in factual detail, quoting reputable people. She is spiritual enough to express the other-worldliness in terms that make sense. Hey, he was God’s guy, right? So why not accept that major and minor miracles surrounding how he came to be Pope and what he accomplished as Pope?
But not all was miraculous in John Paul II’s reign. Noonan is scathingly critical of the modern Mass with "musty homilies" and what she perceives as just silly music. In this, she comes across as the extreme pre-Vatican II Catholic, ready to return to the back-to-the-congregation priest intoning the Mass to himself in Latin.
That’s a minor sticking point, however. What she calls "The Great Shame" is the sex scandals that have rocked the American Catholic church. Noonan holds John Paul II accountable, believing that the cancer spread when the first priest was not defrocked.
This is old ground for Noonan who has written and spoken quite candidly against the American cardinals for years. She recounts meeting Cardinal Law of Boston in Rome after her column took him personally to task. She had called for the Pope to remove him as Cardinal and from the Church. And, oh yes, she suggested that he and other princes of the church should turn their mansions over to school kids or the aged and consider living humble financial lives.
The old cardinal was stern-faced and cold-eyed as he turned to Noonan who approached him. She was polite; he was annoyed mostly about her suggestion that he move out of the mansion. The idea that he would be dressed down by the Pope did not seem to be a concern.
Noonan the political analyst tackles the why of the Pope’s inaction in these horrific cases. She blames, in part, the American cardinals who did not "enlighten" the Pope on the severity of the situation. And she considers that the old Pope needed to be enlightened, graphically informed, as he had no point of reference for such behaviors.
Noonan notes more than once that Polish men are as ardently Catholic as women and children. The priests of Karol Wojtyla’s youth were men who fought (at times literally) injustices and physically worked hard to support struggling parish families. Being a priest in those dark days of tyranny was not for the faint hearted. She argues, how could such a man from such times understand these men who sacrificed morality for their own self-gratification? And how could he understand that the leaders of the Church would protect such men as they protected their own power?
She writes, "What a racket. What a scandal. What a shame. The old Pope had no categories for it… could not imagine it."
Yet, she holds him accountable for the damage done to boys and girls, their trusting parents, to the institution of the Church.
The book reads quickly, masking the complexity of Noonan’s composition. She provides the chronology of a life as she examines themes her own and those of the world. Biography and memoir, analysis and reverence. Rather a remarkable piece, worth reading even by those not Catholic or conservative!
Dr. Joan Ruddiman, Ed.D., is a teacher and friend of the Allentown Public Library.

