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Reviewed by Deborah Lloyd for Readers' Favorite
Fascinating and horrifying historical information, within the context of a memoir by Jack Doherty, abounds in his work, Abandoned by the Vatican: My Clandestine Journey to Support Secret Priests Behind the Iron Curtain. From the first page through the last, the author presents an intriguing, and sometimes sickening, treatise on how the communist regime treated the Catholic Church in the Soviet Bloc. Jack Doherty, a priest obtaining a Doctorate in Theology in Freiburg, Germany, ventured behind the Iron Curtain many times. He organized a great effort in getting religious books sent to secret priests. These priests continued to pastor small congregations and educate new seminarians underground, while working at menial, hard labor jobs. The harsh imprisonment, torture and in some cases, deaths, of priests and other religious members was appalling. The actions of the Vatican during this period were often disheartening, and it is difficult to understand why the underground Church did not receive support from the institutional hierarchy.
Author Jack Doherty is certainly a very skilled writer, interweaving his personal experience and copious detailed historical facts in Abandoned by the Vatican. Depicting decades of communist control, which was spread across several nations, with an emphasis on the effects on Catholics, seems an almost insurmountable goal for a book. Yet, the author’s writing style made the text easy to read and absorb. Combining all this information was done in a smooth, flowing style. These events should never be forgotten, and this book is definitely an excellent way to bring this information into today’s world.