A story in Friday’s Sur referred to English author, Graham Greene, his regular travels to Spain and his correspondence with Spanish Catholic Priest, Leopoldo Durán. The story reminded us that he travelled to Torremolinos in 1953 and has a street named after him in Churriana –Calle Graham Green – albeit with his surname misspelt!
Graham Greene was a hugely influential writer of the 20th century, regarded by William Golding as “the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man’s consciousness and anxiety”. His love affair with Spain and the Spanish-speaking world is well documented, and is particularly apparent in his book, Monsignor Quixote (the film version of which, starring Alec Guinness, is available for free on YouTube here).
Fr Hilary writes: “At school I was not hugely engaged with English literature, but my saving grace was Graham Greene, who’s father had once been the headmaster of the school. Graham Greene wrote books about spies, power and political intrigue. But he also wrote books about God and the Catholic church, and the interplay between Christian faith and some of the rougher edges of life. One of the reasons I am a priest today is because of Graham Greene.
“And my enduring favourite Graham Greene novel is ‘The Power and the Glory’ – the story of a failed Catholic priest, far too fond of the drink, and, thanks to the drink, he ends up not only fathering a child but failing his parish and failing the people around him. But he’s the only priest left, because the church has been outlawed in the Mexican state of Tabasco, where he had his ministry, and all his fellow priests have been forced to leave their churches and bribed with a state pension to marry. But at the time he was just a bit too drunk to notice.
“So it’s a sad and rather selfish story, about how he flees from village to village, and town to town, trying to hide from the state troops. But in the end he returns to Tabasco, knowing his capture and execution will inevitably follow. But it is also a story about courage and about grace. Here is a man who knows that he has failed, a man who is utterly self-effacing, totally without any sort of pride….so aware is he of all that he has done wrong. Tell him he’s a bad priest and he would be the first to agree with you.
“And yet something profound, something deep down within him, stirs, and when all is finally safe and plain-sailing, he knows he has no choice but, to be true to himself and his priesthood, he goes back to tend to a dying man, however high the ultimate price. And, to me, that makes it a book about God and a book about sainthood.”
Read the Sur article here.