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132BOOK REVIEWS may be characterized as secular in the sense that none has an established state religion or ideology (except perhaps Cuba)..." (p. 22): Article 75 of the Constitution established Roman Catholicism as the state religion ofCosta Rica. Fifth, there is no contemporary study of Andean spirituality. Sixth, there are surprising omissions in the General Bibliography: Hugo G. Nutini's, Todos Santos in Rural Tlaxcala: A Syncretic, Expressive, and SymbolicAnalysis of the Cult of the Dead ( 1988) and Michael J. Sallnow's Pilgrims of the Andes: Regional Cults in Cuzco (1987) are two. Readers will attend to flaws, yet rejoice in the insights, quality of writing, skillful use of texts, and wealth of information in the volume. The book is well worth reading. Leslie Ellen Straub, O.P. Providence College Australian Die Konzilien in Australien, 1842—1917. By Ian Benjamin Waters. [Konziliengeschichte , Reihe A: Darstellungen. ] (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh. 1994. Pp. xxviii, 195. DM 64,-.) Written as a doctoral thesis in canon law in St. Paul's University, Ottawa, the present work offers a useful contribution to Australian church history. The author, Father Ian Waters, has long been prominent in the Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission and its activities. Provincial and plenary councils are often pivotal events in the development of the Church in a particular country. The present volume is included in a series entitled Konziliengeschichte . Those who have found access to invaluable information through Mansi and the Collectio Lacensis will readily applaud the venture by the publisher, Schöningh of Paderborn. The First Provincial Council of Sydney, the starting point of the study, came just two years after the hierarchy had been established; and the country had not yet advanced beyond the status of a penal colony. Under Archbishop Polding, zealous missionary as he was, its concerns were emphatically pastoral, especially the administration of the sacraments in the rough frontier society. The second, held in Melbourne in 1869 after fire had destroyed St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, revealed somewhat more complex conditions, now that transportation had ended. The fathers were preoccupied with the growing problems of mixed marriages and education controlled by the State. Both topics were to occasion concern in all subsequent councils. These earliest gatherings of the bishops were relatively straightforward affairs. Polding told Propaganda that the council in 1844 had drawn inspiration principally from the councils in Milan under St. Charles Borromeo. It was BOOK REVIEWS133 different after 1869. Polding's successor, Roger Bede Vaughan, an English Benedictine like himself, when urged by Propaganda to convoke another Council, replied that it would be futile, since it would be no more than "a family gathering." That was obviously an overstatement, but even the simple Polding had already expressed his surprise that the new bishops, nominated under the influence of the redoubtable Paul Cullen of Dublin, were often "closely related." The Australian Church had become thoroughly Irish. The Plenary Council of 1885, convoked by Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran of Sydney, made that very plain. In spite of the advice of Propaganda to study die Plenary Council of Baltimore held in the previous year, the fathers drew inspiration from the Council of Maynooth of 1875. It is hard to avoid a sense of gratification at noting diat Rome intervened in favor of Mary McKillop, soon to be beatified, saving herJosephite Sisters from control by the episcopal cousins. In his third chapter Father Waters compares the six Australian Councils with those of other countries, providing much to interest the student. Two points, perhaps, call for special notice. In Australia there has been a much larger participation proportionally of the lower clergy in Church legislation than elsewhere. Also it is matter for regret that the best efforts of die Council fathers failed sadly to provide help for the Aborigines. It is small comfort to note a similar judgment byJohn Tracy Ellis ofAmerican legislation for pastoral care of die Indians. Father Waters has been thorough in treating his theme, and he offers valuable information for future students of the Australian Church. S. J. Boland C.SS.R. Ballarat, Australia ...

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