Word: faithfulness
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...plot of Juniper and the Pagans is, admittedly, and old bromide. In John Patrick's play, a consistently unsuccessful priest named Brother Juniper comes with his niece Rosita to Santiago de Gante, a Mexican village devoid of faith. At first scorned by the populace, Juniper restores the Catholic Church by wresting the town's people's patron saint, a chrome-plated cowboy called Santiago, from the evil General Braga, who runs a resort for the "canape-eaters" where a monastery once stood. Rosita, meanwhile, falls in love with Pepe, the local atheist, and accepts him when he finally sees...
Patrick's script comments wryly on religion. Bunny, a "you-all" type from the southwestern United States, played with high humor by Louise Latham, claims as her faith "extinctionism." In her credo, "nothing matters... God created man to become extinct; in fact, the world ended six hundred years ago." Since, therefore, Bunny doesn't really exist, her cult tells her "anything I do doesn't matter--it's a divine religion...
...play, Juniper observes the faith he has re-awakened and says, "Man still goes on believing that tomorrow will be better. This faith is the greatest miracle of all--this is today's miracle, and tomorrow's, and tomorrow's." Patrick's writing is able to move this strongly, and yet it can at other times bring on riotous laughter. It is principally because of his considerable skill that the play goes deeper than the conventional story line...
...need for such counseling is the story of a middle-aged man, now making a good recovery from major surgery, who was sinking fast until a chaplain-intern persuaded him that he still had much to live for. "Every person's life is vitally affected by his faith and religion," says Dr. Bryan. "The institute trains the health team to understand and use these spiritual resources...
...Nostrand; $14.95), brings together in a single volume pictures of 259 popes and accompanies each one with a brief biography. The effect is that of a permanent time of troubles in which the church has again and again found the men and the means to defend the faith...