POOR SOULS

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REVIEWS of the novel POOR SOULS

"POOR SOULS gives the reader a rollicking tale of seminarians and priests in their service of the church. McMullen, writing as an insider, masterfully strikes insightful chords of humor without resorting to ridicule."– Clark Gabriel Field, (The Celibate)

"McMullen’s tale of seminarian Martin Flanagan is a delightful read, especially in these times when many people are concerned about the future of the Catholic priesthood." – BJ Conner, Author (Irish Legacy)

"An unexpected revelation of life in the seminary and parish, McMullen reveals the very human lives of Roman Catholic clergy knowingly yet lovingly. McMullen’s novel is so real it will make you laugh and cry at the same time. Uproariously shrewd and marvelously told." – Doug Chambers, Author (The Orchard)

"Half of the Catholics who read POOR SOULS will love it; the other half will want to burn the author at the stake." - Bill Groves, Human Resource Agent, AFLAC

"Professor McMullen is a scholar."
Roger McBain, Evansville Courier & Press Arts and Entertainment Editor.

"…a tale about ordinary men who take on the daunting task of priesthood…Poor Souls will open your eyes to the issues they face."
- Anne K. Edwards, author and book reviewer

"Poor Souls qualifies as a front-runner of the Catholic novel, though this is not immediately apparent because of its unpretentiousness. It doesn’t aim at the high drama of a Graham Greene or the fetching mystical aura of Diary of a Country Priest. The intention of the Catholic writer is to ‘highlight the ordinary, and indeed the sinful, as being transformed by grace into something worthy of God.’

"The parish, in some undefined urban area of the United States, has the unlikely name Our Lady of the Poor and Forgotten Souls in Purgatory. This is the Poor Souls of the title which everyone, with Gogolian irony, miscalls Lost Souls.

"Martin Flanagan, a young seminarian, spends a season of work experience here. The clergy are not models of piety, but they are not fiends in disguise either. The local bishop and his vicar general are seen by the clergy as incompetents. That’s about it, really. Doesn’t amount to much in précis, does it? So why does it haunt me and why do I want to hail it as an outstanding novel, and an outstanding Catholic novel?

"Perhaps because the writer is an unswervingly honest professional with something pertinent to say. Perhaps because he says it with quiet sobriety. Perhaps because his characterization is, on the whole, effortlessly satisfying. The difference with the Catholic novel is that imagination and experience are not the only shapers of the work. The habit of prayer is behind every move of at least some of the characters, prayer that is heard and answered and the effects of which are transmitted to the reader on levels that the writer is not ultimately master of. It is in this soil that the genius of Poor Souls has its roots. It employs the banality of everyday living to convey the Catholic element without ever resorting to signs and wonders or, worse, ‘pious-speak’."
- Leo Madigan, literary critic, television personality

http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/breviews/lmadigan/poorsoul.html

"Martin Flanagan felt the call to priesthood at a young age and therefore pursued that calling, even when it was difficult. He quickly learned that the seminary was a bit more risque than he might have imagined it would be, but managed to mostly stay out of trouble, other than being annoyingly in the middle of the road on most issues. Then, the time comes for him to be assigned to a parish, where he will serve as something like a student teacher or apprentice. As luck would have it, he lands at Poor Souls, or as it is nicknamed, Lost Souls. Martin discovers it is rather aptly named. The head priest wants to be innovative, but he does tend to take things a little too far. The housekeeper rules with an iron fist, and poison if need be, and the other priests have quirks that keep life interesting. There's also a priest who is not a priest, temptation, scandal, and an exorcism to deal with over the course of his year there. Will all this make Martin reconsider his calling?

The best way to describe this would be as a cross between All Creatures Great and Small and an Andrew Greeley novel. There is a realism that made me double check the genre to make sure it wasn't nonfiction. You probably know the people in this novel, just wearing different faces.

- Amanda Killgore.