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  • The Priest Who Put Europe Back Together: The Life of Father Fabian Flynn, CP by Sean Brennan
  • Todd Scribner
The Priest Who Put Europe Back Together: The Life of Father Fabian Flynn, CP. By Sean Brennan. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2018. 312 pp. $34.95.

The title of Sean Brennan's recently published book on Father Fabian Flynn, CP is a bold one and, as such, overpromises. The numerous individuals, organizations, and government programs that helped piece Europe back together in the two decades following World War II were all in their own way indispensable efforts at putting Europe back together again. Nevertheless, some were more important than others and Flynn certainly fell on the more important side of the ledger. It is the story of a life worth telling and is done in a way that effectively allows the reader to understand this important and generally overlooked personality.

A Passionist priest ordained in 1931, Father Fabian Flynn had promised himself to a monastic life, although he spent most of his prime years in the battlefields of Europe or in humanitarian work following the war, most notably in response to crises that emerged in countries including Austria, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. His success outside of the monastery—primarily in his employment at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)—and his happiness in this work might make a reader wonder whether or not his commitment to a monastic vocation was ever a wise decision. Regardless, his time away from the monastery proved to be a source of continual tension between himself and his religious superiors; his work in the field a source of great contentment.

Some of the professional opportunities that Flynn held in Europe were a consequence of sheer persistence on this part. He repeatedly fell ill as a young man and probably had no business being sent to the battlefield. Nonetheless, his continual pestering of military leadership to deploy him into the field eventually bore fruit and he spent several years ministering to soldiers on the battlefield, all the while experiencing the dangers of combat firsthand. His bravery on the field brought with it recognition, including at one point a purple heart. [End Page 96]

Other opportunities emerged due more to chance than through an act of will. As the longtime Catholic chaplain to the Blue Spaders, which happened to be deployed near Nuremberg at the end of the war, Flynn was named as a military chaplain at the International Military Tribunal. There he encountered a range of German military personnel who were put to trial for their war crimes and had the opportunity to befriend their friends and family.

All these efforts were important, but it was his demonstrated success and commitment to the relief work of CRS, which played a significant role in providing relief to displaced populations and the broader populations of Europe. Brennan's account of this period of Fr. Flynn's life is particularly captivating, as it effectively draws together the actions of one individual in the context of a much larger organizational, political, and social context.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the book is the way in which Brennan effectively interweaves the personal narrative of Flynn with the broader historical context that informed his work in Europe. Anyone interested in World War II, in post-war Europe, or in more recent Catholic history would benefit by making a point to read it. At the very least, every Catholic university library should have a copy of this book on their shelves.

As elucidating a book as it is, there are some factual flaws that should have been caught at some point in the publication process. In a section detailing the founding of Catholic Relief Services, for example, Brennan correctly notes that it was established in 1943 under the authority of its parent organization, the National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC). This institution, founded in 1917 as the National Catholic War Council, functioned as the national "headquarters" for the U.S. Catholic bishops. He proceeds to note that "in 1922, the organization was renamed the National Catholic Welfare Conference, keeping the same initials, and it maintains the name to the present...

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