All of Lou's that's fit to print
Father Twomey is ready for his close-up in America's March issue
Father Louis J. Twomey, S.J.’s time to shine continues as my America feature on him that appeared earlier this month online is now in the magazine’s March print issue. It looks beautiful, and I am once again grateful that the Jesuit publication has seen fit to honor him by publishing the article.
I’ve been a bit slow with Matters Twomey updates because I’m currently working on a side project. Loyola Press approached me inviting me to write a short book on saints’ devotion to the Sacred Heart. It gives me the opportunity to write about some wonderful holy people—including Twomey’s friend Father Pedro Arrupe, S.J.—while also helping me support myself as I continue my dual search for a publisher and a full-time teaching position.
This week is actually a big week for me both on the publisher front and on the job front. My proposal for my Twomey biography has caught the interest of a publisher, so I am waiting for a decision on that, plus I have a job interview this afternoon. Any prayers that you could send up for either or both would be much appreciated!
One fun development on the Twomey front is that I’ve given the biography a new working title: A Priest in Good Trouble: Father Louis J. Twomey, S.J.’s Battle for Human Dignity with MLK in the Deep South. What do you think?
Well, I’m biased, but I’m excited about it! A Priest in Good Trouble came to me after I discovered in the Twomey Papers some correspondence that took place not long after Father Twomey’s death. It was between two people with whom the Jesuit was closely associated at different times of his life: Ray Ariatti (his longtime assistant at Loyola University New Orleans) and Father Barnaby Faherty, S.J. (formerly of The Queen’s Work in St. Louis).
Father Faherty was planning to include a chapter on Father Twomey in a book on what he called “dissenting priests.” That caused Ariatti concern, because, as he pointed out to Faherty, Twomey never dissented from the Magisterium and he never disobeyed his superiors.
Ariatti suggested instead that Faherty instead call his book’s subject matter “troublesome priests,” after the line attributed to Henry II of Thomas Becket, which is sometimes rendered as, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?”
It struck me that Ariatti was right on the mark. So I thought about calling the book Troublesome Priest—but that’s been taken.
Then the word “trouble” took my thoughts to John Lewis, who was friends with Twomey’s friend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and his advice to get into “good trouble.” Here’s hoping that my story of a great-souled Jesuit will inspire others to do the same.