£14.99
This monograph on Eric Doyle OFM (1938–1984) takes a comprehensive look at this much loved and gifted Friar of the English province. Often considered to have been ahead of his time, this work takes an in-depth look at his theology and spirituality, totally imbued by the Franciscan charism. His love of the humanity of St Francis, his dispelling of the ‘romantic myth’ surrounding the saint, his retrieval of the Franciscan charism post Vatican II, and particularly his location of that charism as ending with the death of Blessed John Duns Scotus in 1308, assure him of a significant place within the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition. Friar, evangeliser, broadcaster, scholar, ecumenist and mystic, Eric Doyle’s thought has perennial, even urgent, relevance as this book highlights.
Paperback 388 pages. Published December 2021.
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Few books arrest and liberate in equal measure. Just as St. Francis expressed his theology of creation in song, this scholarly yet lyrical study of Eric Doyle OFM attests to the prophetic-poetic power of both his life and thought. Essential reading for anyone interested in Franciscan thinking, Vatican II and the Ecological turn, Brenda Abbott fathoms the depth of Doyle’s genius and scopes the cosmic reach of his extraordinary intellect.
This well written and thoroughly researched biographical study presents for the Franciscan family and the Church the perennial insights of a master historian and theologian, Father Eric Doyle, OFM. Charismatic, scholarly, humble, Doyle’s brief life (1938-1984) sheds a prismatic light on the development and flourishing of the Franciscan intellectual, spiritual, and social tradition in its movement from the constrictions of pre-conciliar Neo-Scholasticism to the wide open vistas of Vatican II and beyond. Here the reader will find not only the life of an exemplary friar minor but also a prophetic and hopeful commitment to issues touching the contemporary life of faith in the 21st century: the centrality of human dignity, the global challenge of becoming brother and sister to all, the rapprochement with a developing and evolving world and universe, the ethical commitment to an ecological vision, and an openness to the presence of God in all things and creatures. Everything is positively united under the Franciscan insight into the absolute primacy of Christ and the Scotistic exposition of individual uniqueness. Deep knowledge of this less common but most important theological tradition in the Church informs the exposition of major themes such as the purpose of theology, ecumenism, the meaning of salvation, the interpretation of suffering, the ministry of women in the Church, the service of the papacy. Scholar, teacher, prophet, mystic, Doyle opens pathways to the future. Brenda Abbott’s extraordinary exposition provides insight and guidance for contemporary Christians and non-believers in an increasingly complex world.
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Robert J. Karris OFM –
Review in Franciscan Studies 2023, pp.249-50.
Brenda Abbott, Eric Doyle OFM: Hidden Architect of the Retrieval of the Franciscan Charism. Durham, UK: Franciscan Publishing, 2021. Pp. vii + 388. 16 photos. £15.00. ISBN: 9781915198013.
Father Eric Doyle, OFM, a member of the Province of the Immaculate Conception, UK, was born in 1938 and died in 1984. He was highly talented and educated, steeped in the Franciscan tradition, a superb and humorous communicator. He was just right for his time, he was ahead of his time, and he may be just what Franciscans need today in their time as they continue to renew themselves in the spirit of St. Francis and in Franciscan Christology and spirituality.
Abbott sets down her goal: “My purpose and goal in publishing this book is that something of the man and his vision will be communicated here, and that a new generation of Franciscan friars and scholars, as well as believers and unbelievers more widely, may be inspired by this vision and become aware of Doyle’s enduring and precious legacy” (ii). She accomplishes her goal through an introduction, fifteen chapters which mainly delve into Doyle’s Franciscan Christology and spirituality, and a conclusion. Endnotes follow each chapter. The book, which is very well-researched and written, ends with two appendices and a bibliogra- phy. Abbot has marvelously achieved her goal.
The introduction is followed by: chapter 1, “Early Life: 1938–1970”; chapter 2, “The Friar”; chapter 3, “The Teacher”; chapter 4, “The Shep- herd and Evangeliser”; chapter 5, “The Scholar”; chapter 6, “The Mystic”; chapter 7, “The Franciscan Theologian (Part 1)”; chapter 8, “The Fran- ciscan Theologian (Part 2)”; chapter 9, “The Franciscan Theologian (Part 3)”; chapter 10, “The Franciscan Theologian (Part 4)”; chapter 11, “The Ecologist: Our Sister Mother Earth”; chapter 12, “The Ecumenist: Our Brothers and Sisters in Christ”; chapter 13, “The Post–Vatican II Theo- logian”; chapter 14, “The Prophet: A Franciscan Legacy (Part 1)”; and chapter 15, “The Prophet: A Franciscan Legacy (Part 2).”
In the space allotted me, I provide three snapshots of Eric Doyle. First is the assessment of Doyle from an outside source, Bishop Thomas McMahon, who in his eulogy said: “He put profound truths in a very simple way and conveyed always a sense of the numinous …. [He was] vivid, articulate, deeply learned, intensely human, hugely alive, full of mischief, unsparing of self … a contemporary Francis. His Franciscan spirituality permeated his total thinking” (174). I underscore Bishop Mc- Mahon’s emphasis on St. Francis and his spirituality. I see implied here Doyle’s teaching about the Absolute Primacy of Christ—that Christ is head of all creation and conqueror of sin and death, and that the reason for Christ’s incarnation is not sin but love—demonstrating Doyle’s re- trieval of the best from the Franciscan tradition.
The second snapshot points to two areas where Doyle was ahead of his time. First, he was a TV personality. Abbott dedicates pages 117–23 to Doyle as a wonderful TV presence. From 1971 to 1984 he was on four hundred programs of The Big Question. One reviewer noted: “The length, breadth and width of his discourse … is colossal … This man is an orig- inal, a non-pareil; before they made him, they broke the mould” (121). Second, in his book on Francis’s Canticle of Brother Sun, first published in 1980, Doyle anticipated many of Pope Francis’ teachings in Laudato Si’. As Abbott says: “Foreshadowing much of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, Doyle demonstrates how belief in the universal brotherhood and sisterhood of creation can help us create a better world” (270).
The third snapshot is an indication of how Doyle’s legacy continues in print. Doyle’s St Francis and the Song of Brotherhood has been reprinted a number of times, most recently in 1997 by Franciscan Institute Pub- lications as St. Francis and the Song of Brotherhood and Sisterhood. It has been translated into five languages: Italian, German, Portuguese, Korean, and Japanese. Under the imprint of Tau Publications is My Heart’s Quest: Collected Writings of Eric Doyle, Friar Minor, Theologian, edited by Josef Raischl, OFS, and André Cirino, OFM (2013).
In conclusion, Abbott has presented a wonderfully clear and attrac- tive picture of Eric Doyle, OFM. Doyle was situated by intellect, nature and grace, at the right time in the Church, as in the wake of Vatican II it sought to renew itself and return to its deep traditional roots. May his example and his writings continue to bear fruit among Franciscans and all those who respect humans and nature.
Robert J. Karris, OFM Professor Emeritus Franciscan Institute,
St Bonaventure University
Revd Douglas Dales –
A FRANCISCAN BOOK REVIEW – Published in Fairacres Chronicle Winter 2022, Volume 55 no.2, pp.43-46.
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Eric Doyle OFM – Hidden Architect of the Retrieval of the Franciscan Charism, by Brenda Abbott [Franciscan Publishing, 2021: pp.338 – paperback: ISBN 9781915198013 @ £15.00]
This is an excellent book in every way and its publication is most timely. It is beautifully written, presented, and carefully documented, though it would benefit from an index. It has a complete list of Doyle’s publications and a biographical time-line. The author knew Father Eric Doyle, who died prematurely in 1984, and she has rendered great service to the Church and to the Franciscan Order by so diligently researching and communicating his intellectual and spiritual legacy. This book is of interest inasmuch as it captures well the optimism and hope in Catholic circles in the wake of Vatican II. It illuminates also the eagerness with which ecumenical contacts were cultivated and developed between Catholics and Anglicans in the 1970’s, at the local level, as well as by the ARCIC negotiations. It is also a monument to the Franciscan Centre in Canterbury that was sadly closed in 2017.
Father Doyle was born in 1938 into a devout Catholic family living in Bolton in Lancashire. He felt a vocation to the priesthood from an early age and in July 1954, aged just sixteen, he left school to join the Franciscan novitiate. Writing later in a tribute to G. K. Chesterton’s Life of St Francis, Doyle intimated that what attracted him initially to the Order was its founder’s deep humanity, his affinity with nature, and his compassion for each individual person. Doyle was a cheerful and able novice, but he was formed within the unreformed Neo-Scholastic tradition of Catholic theology, with its regimentation of thought and Thomist ethos. There was little contact with the distinctive spiritual tradition of the Franciscans apart from regular hearing of the Rule and the Testament of St Francis that underpinned the life of the Order. This helps to explain why, for example, St Bonaventure is still not better known among English Catholics.
Nonetheless, Doyle conducted his own discreet researches in order to bring to life this rich tradition. ‘It is his own interpretation of the original sources, always undertaken in the light of contemporary life, which is his own significant and unique contribution.’ Doyle wrote later in 1980 that such was Francis’ imitation of Christ that he revealed ‘that Jesus Christ is the most truly human being ever to have existed.’ [p.43] Since Doyle’s death, there has been a steady stream of good translations of Franciscan sources into English by the Franciscans in America.
For Doyle, Francis was an intensely human person, not a figure of legend, romance or religious sentimentality. As a young friar writing in 1958, his perception was already prophetic: ‘The essence of Franciscan spirituality is in the [human] will … This of course makes the holiness of St Francis seem very easy and simple. But we shall wholly fail to understand it if we do not realise that the things which are outwardly simple are those which reveal to us the stark reality behind the veil which hides it from our view.’ [p.44] This profound and sacrificial truth was most evident at the climax of Francis’ spiritual life when he received the stigmata at La Verna. This transfigured his life, but at great cost and real pain to him until his death. The transformation of the human person by divine grace also connects closely with the transformation of the created world, and Doyle took to heart the affirmative teaching of Francis about this, notably in his famous Canticle of the Sun. The vision of the totality of the Divine Purpose for humanity at the heart of creation guided Doyle throughout all his days.
Returning to England from higher studies in Rome in 1964, Doyle was the beneficiary of the great liberation of Catholic theology that flowed from Vatican II. He could now read openly the works of Rahner, Kung, Schillebeecks, du Lubac, Congar, von Balthasar, and Ratzinger. In the midst of this reawakening, it was Doyle’s singular vocation to appropriate and articulate the rich tradition of distinctively Franciscan theology, notably that of Bonaventure and Scotus, making it available to his own Order by teaching and preaching, as well as by his own writings and publications. It is this author’s contention that he played a decisive role in initiating the steady recovery of this tradition among English-speaking Franciscans across the world to the benefit of the whole Church. Doyle was also one of the first to recognize clearly the decisive significance of St Clare of Assisi as the living link between Francis and Bonaventure. He emphasized ‘her love of the Crib, the humility of the Cross, and the silence of the Eucharist, all the places where she sees the poverty and humility of Christ.’ [p.65] Doyle regarded Francis and Clare as theologians as well as mystics.
In 1967, a chapter of Franciscans from across the world was held at Assisi and from it flowed the determination in each province to address the renewal of the Order. The recovery of true fraternity and a bias towards the active care of the poor were to determine unequivocally a renewed Franciscan ethos. Crucial to this vision was the work of education and formation within the rich Franciscan tradition; and here Doyle led the way in England. This was the catalyst for the creation of the Franciscan Centre in Canterbury in 1974 at which Doyle taught for many years. This initiative had a definite ecumenical dimension, receiving support and encouragement from the Archbishops of Canterbury. There was also a short-lived Anglican Franciscan house in Canterbury at this time. Doyle was a gifted teacher, and his legacy was to his many pupils, within the Franciscan Order and beyond.
In his theology, Doyle valued the writings of Teilhard de Chardin in a determined attempt to ensure that Christian theology engaged with the unfolding world of scientific research. Doyle looked back to the biblical and spiritual theology of Bonaventure, whom he greatly loved, and also to the distinctive vision of Scotus, with his insistence on the Primacy of Christ and the unique significance of each created being. For Doyle, as for de Chardin, Christ was the key to the cosmos as well as to the redemption of human beings. Both had a commanding vision of the length and breadth and depth and height of the Divine Purpose in creating the world and revealing Himself in the Incarnate Person of Christ as its heart and the key to its meaning. ‘The doctrine of the Primacy of Christ … is an affirmation of the world’s goodness. Creation has its own intrinsic value, and the evidence for this is that it is created [by God]. The Origin, Centre and Purpose of creation is Christ.’ [p.196] The authority for this cosmic and Christocentric vision lies in the Prologue of St John’s Gospel and also in Colossians 1; its roots lie deep in Genesis 1 and in the Wisdom Tradition of the Old Testament.
Doyle threw himself into the fervour of renewal that characterized the life of the English Catholic Church and elsewhere in the first decade after the end of Vatican II. He was active in ecumenical collaboration and committed to ecological causes long before they became fashionable. Many of his writings about both subjects remain prophetic, as for example his insistence on the need for deep spiritual repentance in addressing the ecological crisis, his advocacy of the ordination of women to the priesthood, and his championing of the restoration of the permanent diaconate within the life of the Church and at the heart of the Franciscan Order. Doyle had considerable influence in implementing the mission of Pope John Paul II in England, and also at Assisi. He was a true churchman while remaining a critical friend within reforming Catholic circles. His early death in 1984 was lamented by all who knew him, not least by those who had benefitted from his spiritual direction and capacities as a leader of retreats. He was also well known for a time as a very effective broadcaster and spokesman for Christianity.
This is a rich and fascinating book that repays careful reading. Its lucidity and balance are striking, and the author has done great service to the memory and legacy of a remarkable Franciscan priest and theologian.
The Revd Douglas Dales is a parish priest in the Oxford diocese, and the author of a trilogy of studies of St Bonaventure.
Michael J. P. Robson –
Review in Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, Annus 115, Ianuarius – December 2022, Fasc. 1-4, pp.581-82.
Abbott, Brenda. – Eric Doyle OFM. Hidden Architect of the Retrieval of the Franciscan Charism.
Fr Eric Doyle, OFM (1938-84), was a member of the English Province of the Friars Minor. He had a profound love of the Franciscan order and its rich theological patrimony, especially the writings of Sts Francis, Clare, Bonaventure, and Blessed John Duns Scotus. He was a postgraduate student in Rome during the Second Vatican Council, where he met the Revd Dr John Moorman, Bishop of Ripon, one of the Anglican observers of the Ecumenical Council and a distinguished historian of the Franciscan order. Eric’s pastoral framework was shaped by the conciliar decrees, which informed his teaching and pastoral work at St Mary’s Friary, East Bergholt, Suffolk, and the Franciscan Study Centre in Canterbury, Kent. His services to ecumenism were reflected in his membership of the committee for dialogue between the Catholic and methodist Churches. At a time when comparatively few Catholic priests in England and Wales were active in the media, his short and incisive reflections made him a familiar voice on the radio. He made over 400 appearances as a panel member debating current moral and religious questions on Anglia Television. He was in demand as a retreat giver, a lecturer and a writer on topics ranging from the essence of religious life to contemporary ecumenism. His St Francis and the Song of Brotherhood was published in 1980 and translated into Italian, Portuguese, German, Korean and Japanese. The Disciple and the Master: St Bonaventure’s Sermons on St Francis of Assisi appeared three years later. He was a prolific author and contributed to monographs and journals. He translated the writings of Sts Francis and Clare. His articles on William Woodford in Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, Franciscan Studies and Speculum introduced the life and writings of a prominent English friar, theologian, scriptural scholar, and polemicist in the late fourteenth century. He produced editions of Woodford’s debates with John Wyclif and the Lollards. This book has an introduction and fifteen chapters. The first appendix contains Eric’s curriculum vitae and the second miscellaneous documents, concluding with a list of his publications. The first chapter traces his early years, the development of his specific pastoral interests and his contribution to theological debates are explored in later chapters. As a boy at Thornleigh Salesian College grammar school in Bolton, Lancashire, he wished to become a friar and a priest. At the age of sixteen, he entered the novitiate of the Friars minor at Chilworth, Surrey, where he duly made his simple profession. Then came six years at the order’s seminary at St Mary’s friary, East Bergholt, where he made his solemn profession and was ordained to the priesthood. His aptitude and flair for academic study were detected in this period, and in October 1961, he was sent to the Pontificio Atenenianum Antonianum in Rome, where he studied ecclesiastical history and obtained a doctorate in theology under the supervision of Professor Lucien Ceyssens, OFM. He returned to East Bergholt in 1964 and developed theological and historical interests which would shape his ministry for the rest of his life. From 1970 to 1982, he was a lecturer at the graduate theology summer sessions at the university of St Bonaventure, New York. He lectured alongside many prominent scholars whose research focused on the luminaries of the Franciscan school. In February 1978, Fr Conrad Harkins, OFM, then the director of the Franciscan Institute, invited Eric to occupy a newly created chair to lecture at St Bonaventure’s University. However, Eric’s pastoral commitments at Canterbury obliged him to decline this attractive offer. He was extraordinarily generous with his time and was industrious in preparing lecture notes for his students on a Gestetner at East Bergholt. His stature within his own order is reflected in his appointment to review the theological programmes of his alma mater in Rome early in 1983. Later that year, he also participated in an appraisal of the Collegium Sancti Bonaventurae at Grottaferrata. From 1966 until his death, he was a member and then vice-president of the Teilhard de Chardin Society. He was well known in the English Catholic circles and was a regular contributor to the Catholic press as well as The Clergy Review. Only a few weeks before his death, he was re-elected to the English Province’s definitory. He was a colourful and unforgettable friar and scholar whose untimely death brought deep sadness to his confrères, colleagues, friends, and innumerable admirers. A stream of warm tributes poured into the Friars minor community at Canterbury in August 1984. Dr Brenda Abbott knew Eric and uses his unpublished writings as well as the provincial archives of the Friars minor. She draws attention to his array of talents and his knack of anticipating what would become significant questions, such as aspects of the ecumenical dialogue and ecology.
Michael J. P. Robson, St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, UK.