Tony HendraReseñas

“Peace is love, dear, and love peace. Peace is the certainty that you are never alone.”- Father Joe

Throughout my trials and tribulations I have committed my life to God and relying on Him completely surrendering my entire being to His Control and Wisdom and Grace. What I learned from this quote was that peace comes to me from absolvement and mercy. Absolvement from sin and mercy for forgiveness of anger and hurtful feelings that I feel. To be more Christ-like and forgiving and trust Him because God forgives and that no matter what I am never alone to fight my battles. He is fighting them for me as I fight through prayer, musick and poetry. Peace comes from surrendering your entire being to God. Surrendering your entire being to God comes from realizing that I am imperfect and I make mistakes but God loves me as His Own and sees me as a human being worth of love and His Care. It also means realizing that only God is perfect and I need to atop worrying over the past and move on to the future God has for me knowing that the obstacles I face now are lessons in disguise that will propel me to success later on down the line. And that I should bless others as God as blessed me with the gifts He gave me.

Loved Father Joe, a gentle soul full of wit and wisdom. Too bad I can't say the same for the author. He was unlikable and it ruined the story of Father Joe. Father Joe deserved better.

This book was worth reading and gets at the big questions about life, the journey of life. What is it that brings truth, beauty and goodness into our lives? What keeps these qualities at bay? What aspects of our lives must be thrown off or changed; what must be added to open one’s life or soul to truth, goodness and beauty? Life has a way of happening to us as much as we make it happen to life. How do we know what to change, let alone, how to change it? This book is the story of a soul who wants real life – something authentic and not a mere copy of some other life. It's about finding one's identity and destiny. The story tells of a seeker who along the way happens to find the consummate guide without knowing it. The guide is one who sustains and guides without doing so directly. Love powers and sustains what's good in the story – and opens the soul to receive the guidance. It shows how faith works over the long term. The story is about the guide as much as it is about the one being guided. So - therein is the intrigue of the book: one flawed human being, the seeker, juxtaposed to the true guide who is himself, truth, goodness and beauty – and love. This book gives us a true picture of love - what it looks like, how it is virtuously manifested as well as its diabolical opposites. The question also posed in the book is whether anyone can come to have a life of truth, goodness, beauty and love irrespective of their past or where they are presently in life.

It was amusing, but like most books of this sort, it got old after a while. It was interesting to skim through & hit a lot of the obvious contradictions in the Bible plus some lesser known ones that I had to look up. The humor was OK, but I find humor in most books to be too heavy & this was no exception.

Interesting story; yet sad and the author had so much talent and potential he wasted advocating worthless causes.

Loved it.

What to say, what to say? This book is misleadingly titled: Father Joe sounds like a saint, and a book about him would probably be lovely, but this book isn't it. This book is Tony Hendra's spiritual memoir and it's about Tony Hendra. Father Joe's role is central in much the same way as God is central to the Bible, that is to say: he doesn't actually show up very often.

On the other hand, if you accept it as such, it is a very well-written and beautiful memoir. Certainly well worth the time to read. (Bonus: he talks about bullying Steven Hawking into doing his math homework.)

Ah, but there's a world out there, and what's between any pair of covers is always an imperfect reflection of that world. What we can see from this book is that he married his college girlfriend, and they had two children (not quite in that order of operations). The details are sketchy, except that Father Joe keeps telling him to be "unselfish", beyond that we just know that he was a lousy husband and father and the marriage ended. And he doesn't seem to have a close relationship with the children of that first marriage: not only are they not mentioned by name, the book doesn't even specify that they were both daughters.

What you can't tell from the book is that the younger of his daughters, Jessica, has accused him of child molestation and, frankly, her story is a lot more credible than his denial. I wish I had known that before I read the book.

In sum: there is a saint here, but it ain't Hendra, and mostly you'll be hearing about Hendra.

Apparently, Father Joe was a close spiritual advisor to hundreds of people, including the Archbishop of Canterbury. So... Hendra is certainly not the only competent writer who ever knew him. Perhaps we can look forward to a book that's actually about Father Joe someday.½

This was an excellent and quick read. As a struggling Catholic I related well to the topic and dialogue. The authors writing style was witty, funny, and easy to read: A very excellent writer. I would recommend this book for those that struggle with faith, deal with guilt, Catholic or otherwise, and look to be inspired by a Father Joe, a true man of faith.

A few years ago a popular song asked, "What if God was one of us?" For many Christians, the question causes us to imagine how the Gospel stories would be different if Jesus were to be born in our lifetime, into a world of air travel, microwave cooking, and electronic communication so different from ancient Judea. Tony Hendra accepts this challenge in "The Messiah of Morris Avenue," retelling the story of Jesus if he were to be born in the United States sometime in the near future.

Told from the perspective of a jaded journalist -- in a future where newspapers have been replaced with online sources that pursue tabloid, TMZ-style stories at the local level -- the novel focuses on the investigation of nebulous miracles attributed to a young Hispanic man named Jay. In search of this man described as wearing a hooded sweatshirt, the cynical reporter Johnny Greco encounters the small group closest to the purported wonderworker, a collection of unemployed outcasts, most who had served time in prison — drug addicts, prostitutes, and petty thieves.

Although skeptical, Greco is intrigued by the mysterious teacher, eventually meeting with Jay. While not convinced that he is Jesus reborn, the reporter believes him to be sincere, something quite unusual in the context of cynical and cutthroat reporting that has come to define Jay's industry. As might be expected, the growing notoriety of the Hispanic wonderworker attracts the attention of the religious powers that be, including the dominant televangelist James Sabbath. The resulting conflict parallels the narrative arc of the Gospels, if with slightly more attention and empathy given to the religious elites.

Hendra generally stays close to the contours of the original stories about Jesus, using wonderful ingenuity to create a modern equivalent to the story filled with marvelous details, such as the federal lethal injection facility he imagines. As might be expected of an author who previously edited humor magazines, there are many laughs, including several witty barbs against the Religious Right bogeyman that serve as the novel's high priest. However Hendra, sensitively and rightly, is more interested in a search for true faith wherever it might be found; this marvelous book is one such fruitful search.

This review is also published at http://alongthispilgrimsjourney.blogspot.com/2012/07/book-review-messiah-of-morr...½

A very light and delightful read. Hendra is very open about the mistakes he's made and how the kind of comedy he did tore him up inside. My mom got me this when I was baptised and thoough I read it a few years later it was still a great book for someone new to the Christian life.

I did not find this book believable.

This book is full of humility. I loved it. It reminded me that a sinner like me is still loved and embraced by my all forgiving Father. He is firm yet gentle. He is perfect. I wish I could have known Father Joe.

I decided to get this book out of the library after listening to Hendra's contribution to a MOTH story-telling contest -- a recounting of one of the incidents in this book when he stumbles from the despair of a failed suicide attempt into his first improvisation as the manager in the classic rock doc spoof Spinal Tap.

You know you're in for a strange ride when Hendra begins the book with a monk, then plunges into the farcical yet poignant tale of how he met said monk. Hendra, age 15, was getting embroiled in an affair with a married woman at the time. Of course, all is not quite as it seems. It was the fifties in Britain and Hendra was a struggling Catholic.

In fact, the whole book is about things not being what they seem, of self-delusion and misplaced ambition. It turns out that Hendra, among many other things, was the man impersonating John Lennon howling "Genius is Pain!" on the infamous National Lampoon's Radio Dinner album in the 1970s, and as Lennon himself put it later: "Life is what happens when you're making other plans."

Derailed time and again by substance abuse, atheism, a disastrous marriage, and ego problems (both his and others'), Hendra returns to the Isle of Wight many times over the years for paternal love and guidance to the monk he calls "Father Joe". It is only after Father Joe's death that Hendra learns how far the monk's influence has reached.

Hendra has just enough humility and humour to make this tale of spiritual struggle palatable. The only time I found myself getting impatient with him is toward the end of the book when he speaks lyrically and lovingly of the children of his second marriage, when he has only mentioned in passing the daughters of his first. This seems sometimes to be the privilege of the multi-marrying male, to leave the previous marriage or marriages aside as mistakes (including the resulting children), and cleave to the progeny of the successful marriage.

The book is, however, a thought-provoking read and an interesting angle on English and American humour and satire in the late twentieth century.

In many parts, this is a very moving book. These are the parts where Hendra is with Fr. Joe at the abbey. But much, perhaps too much, of the book is just Hendra's life story. Of course, some of this needs to be recounted to understand how Fr. Joe "saved his soul".

One thing that bothered me (as a Catholic) is that, while Hendra confesses a great respect for the Eucharist, he sometimes seems more enamored with the rituals of the Church (e.g. chant, divine office, etc.) than with the actual faith. He takes several swipes at Catholic sexual morality - no surprises here considering his career as a "satirist." So I wasn't surprised that his political views were also left of center - he seriously labels Reagan and Thatcher "war mongers." I guess it comes with the territory.

But Fr. Joe is like no one else. By far, the best parts of the book are his conversations with Hendra. The insight of this man was staggering. His statement about how being at peace with God is not some feeling of constant elation, but rather a constant reassurance is that you're never alone really hit home. He had a wonderful way of exposing the truth to Hendra in a non-confrontational way that lead him back home. Best of all was how he pointed out, in a very gentle way, that satirists often are merely spouting hate at those they claim do nothing but spout hate. I'm not familiar with Hendra's other work, or if it changed after this realization, but I hope it did.

All in all, a worthwhile read.½

Sensitive book on how a caring, humble priest influenced a young boy's life by example and kindness. A beautiful story about a beautiful man.

Found this in a box in the garage. I remember it being somewhat amusing 30 years ago, but it's definitely going in the giveaway box now!

I have been trying to read this book for 6 months. I can't seem to get through it. I quit trying.

I'm still reading this book and really enjoing it. It's an autobiography, actually a tribute to Father Joe who touched the life of comic Tony Hendra with his down to earth spirituality. Tony relates of how Father Joe influenced his life, by never judging him, but by standing next to him and giving the unexpected reply. Tony trusts the inner struggles he expierienced as a teen with his calling, desires and faith crises to paper in a very authentic way. Not possible to read this book without smiling out loud and enjoying the warmth of a genuine faith in God.

This novel is set in the near future in which the United States has become a theocracy under right-wing evangelistic Christians. I think Hendra really overstates this part making the obvious parallels to the Bush administration and the Christian Right. The problem is he makes these characters so evil they may as well be wearing black hats. The better part of the story is the young Hispanic man from the Bronx Jose Francisco Kennedy, also known as Jay, the second coming of Christ. Hendra’s Jay is believable and a thoughtful portrayal of a modern-day incarnation of Christ, living and working among the poor and teaching a message of love. Best yet is that Jay never meets anyone’s expectations for him, not any human’s at least, speaking only of God’s plans and frustrating the liberal journalist who narrates the book. The second coming ends much the same way as the first with Jay’s execution for treason and rising again. In kind of a bittersweet way his followers carry on his teachings but already are showing signs of schism.

“P&L. It can stand for peace and love or profit and loss. But not both. Take your pick.” – p. 75

“Blessed are the doubters, for doubt is the path to truth.” – p. 76½

Rich, Powerful Portrait – the Best Book I have read in a Long Time

Father Joe is the story of author Tony Hendra’s faith journey. It is an inspiring, heartfelt story of the four decade relationship between the satirist and a surprisingly wise Benedictine monk named Father Joseph Warrillow.

Hendra, one of the original editors of National Lampoon, captures the beautiful essence of a truly God-inspired man. The portrait that emerges is of one a cleric who is a credit to Church, a cleric who is a credit to his Christ. Father Joe is truly a saint. Hendra, in a startling departure from his normal style, portrays Father Joe’s actions as non-judgmental, caring, and engaged.

This is the most powerful book I have read in a long time. If I have one criticism, it is Hendra’s prodigious talent occasionally clouds this great story. I would occasionally find myself re-reading a particularly clever or unique descriptive phrase. However, you should properly view those words as the musings of a less talented, envious and jealous writer.

Father Joe is a tribute to one of the most charismatic, selfless, spiritual mentors of our time. At times it is funny; at times it will bring tears to your eyes. Tony Hendra experienced a miracle. I am grateful he shared the story with me. Read the book. You will be grateful he shared it with you.

Tony Hendra, best known as Spinal Tap's manager, wrote a brilliant autobiography of his journey to Catholicism, then away from it, and back again.½

Chapter One starts off with a bang. "I was fourteen and having an affair with a married woman." We duly spend the rest of the chapter learning about Lily Bootle. In Chapter Three we finally meet the man the book is named after. The catalouging info says that this is a biography, but Frank McCourt's blurb was right to call it a memoir.

Overall the book wasn't very cohesive, and I didn't sympathize with Hendra much. The first few chapters were suspenseful and interesting enough that I read the whole book, but in general I wouldn't recommend it. Hendra didn't seem to have a clear vision, and couldn't decide between a biography or a memoir. I was particularily annoyed by the epilouge where he mentions the many people whose lives were touched by Father Joe, and gives just enough information to show how interesting a biography of Father Joe could have been.

The story of Tony Hendra is probably interesting, the story of Father Joe is surely interesting, but the combination of both lets them both down. For an example of a combination book done well, I would recommend Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and Their Son by Peter Manseau.

Reviews, etc.

This memoir got an adulatory review in the NYT Book Review. At first I thought I might agree - the part about him being seduced at 14 by a married woman was engrossing. But by the end I agreed with one of the daughters he allegedly molested - he's an insufferable selfish self-absorbed narcissist. And I started to wonder if Father Joe even existed.½

Christ comes again to the slightly-in-the-future right-wing theocracy that the US has become. Pretty heavy-handed. Christ says some nice things about war and murder.

I want to meet someone like Father Joe!½