Morte de Urban and Wheat that Springeth Green: J.F. Powers

Morte D'Urban (1962)
Powers writes ficton about the Catholic priesthood. The hero of J.F. Powers’ comic masterpiece is Father Urban, a very sophisticated and engaging retreat director and much sought after speaker. He is a member of the fictonal Clementines, an order known for its mediocrity. Their newspaper is called The Millstone. When I read this I laughed out loud. I thought Powers, who in his personal life is a bit of a character, knows a lot of characters who are priests. 

The plot of the novel involves a failing retreat house that Fr. Urban is called upon to resurrect. He does so by raising funds to build a golf course. A very different approach to a retreat ministry. You ought to read it... a great and funny story that is all to full of the failures of the clergy and the laity.  

Wheat that Springeth Green (1988)
Powers' second and final novel is about Fr. Joe Hackett a diocesan priest who, although once alive with zeal for the gospel, has settled into a resigned assignment in a fairly well to do parish . His desire to become a saint early in his vocation has resolved down to a desire to avoid too much responsibility. An Easy Boy chair is his frequent companion until a young priest shows up in his rectory. His desire for a quiet life is thwarted by his parishioners and a draft dodger. This novel is about the perennial call of the gospel to awake from slumber and embrace the cross; Holy Cross parish that is!

Both are great novels about the Catholic priesthood. J. F. Powers was a geat wordsmith and a sharp eye for the ecclesiastical life. This novel is funny and moving as Powers leads the reader through Fr. Hackett's rediscovery of his first love, the Church.