"The Dying of the Light" by Fr. James Tunstead Burtchaell. This is an enormous book, some 868 pages long. Fr. Burtchaell deals with the secularization of the Christian colleges, which, as with Harvard and Yale, changed from a church-started, church-supported institution into secular, non-sectarian schools. His method is to pick one, two or three institutions in the particular denomination and deal with the history of the changes from a religious school into a secular institution. Fr. Burtchaell has a chapter for the Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Catholics and Evangelicals. The author's irony borders on humor once in awhile, as when he wonders why the Presbyterians found it so difficult to report the number of attending Presbyterians to church boards, but now find it so easy to report to the Federal government the racial make-up of the student body, down to the last Samoan. In the preface, Fr. Burtchaell notes that the reader will probably go directly to the section dealing with his/her religious affiliation. I did, but mainly because I was working on an MA thesis on Catholic colleges in the United States. I would recommend this encyclopaedia work to any one truly interested in the recent wave of secularization of church-related colleges in the US. Many details and stories from around the nation make this an interesting micro-history....

Antidisestablishmentarianism in contemporary Catholic religious-community sponsored colleges might well be a subliminal message in Fr. James Burtchaell's incisive disection of the historical disengagement of colleges and universities from their Christian Churhes. The biting humor and irony in Burtchaell's style counterpoints the euphemistic rationale vaunting past and current disengagement from the specific founding church's credo and etholgy. The present widespread disengagement by many Catholic colleges and uni-versities is the legacy of the historic, passive, submission of church related schools beneath whelming financial and enrollment pressures.

The Vatican might well use "The Dying of the Light" as its primer to argue the case for rescuing Catholic institutions from modern-day disengagement by means of episcopal appropriation.

In his asessment of the disengagement of seven-teen representative colleges and univer-sities, the author delved deeply into their ar-chival and historical references and posits a commonality of purpose, basically driven by economic necessity.

Is "greed" the dysphoric, but correct, syn-onym for what Burtchaell records? Is "naivete" an, assuaging, palliative for moral incom-petence? Is "hierarchic megalomania" being masked by ecclesiastical dogmatism? The answers to these questions are interpretable from Burtchaell's data. The answers are not easy. The information is complex, but the pattern is quite simple, money requires compromise. The issue becomes: is the loss worth the cost? Is the price of freedom too high? Is skewed pedantry inevitable with church involvement in education? Can academic excellence be acheived without academic freedom?

Issues seem to have been ignored during the evolution of the disengagement by the churches. Questions were left unasked, because the answers were too painful. The basic rationale, seems to have been that financial support became increas-ingly limited as ecclesiastical strictures re-duced enrollments.

The ultimate emergent question becomes, can there be intellectual probity in a religious insti-tution which limits the parameters of discussion and exploration according to a predetermined schema of dogma and morals?

Burtchaell's comprehensive, paradigmatic, exposition of the disengagement process by religious schools bodes ill for any continuance of a moral or spiritual underpinning for edu-cation in our contemporary society. An argument, inferable from "The Dying of the Light", is that State and Federal governments are restricting freedom of religion and ideas and relegating morality and knowledge to a moral and intellectual relativism under the guise of monetary benignity towards education.

Wm.G.Condon, csc e-mail Billcondon@AOL.com

I was loaned the book when I was engaged to my ex-husband. We never read it. I'm not saying it would have saved a marriage/divorce - but I will try to give it to all who I know are "in love," contemplating marriage, engaged, and even already married. This refreshing & thought-provoking book lays all out (EVERYTHING)plainly and simply and just forces you to think very practically about the person and relationship you're involved with and may be committing to. It made me re-think what commitment in marriage really is... and just what marriage really is... especially in a day when, as the author puts it, "No one seems to ask parents or grandparents anymore. I suspect it is not so much the young who don't want to ask as it is their elders who don't quite know how to answer." Some of this is hard to swallow - but if you're open-minded and willing to accept the fact that you don't have it all figured out... I think you'll find the topics worthy of some interesting thoughts and conversations. Read this with your boyfriend or girlfriend, fiance or even husband or wife. If you're reluctant, think about how interesting it is that we'll share ourselves so intimately (even outside of marriage) yet avoid "tough" conversations... Even if you don't agree with everything, the discussions this book generates will almost certainly be enlightening. I challenge you to read it with an open mind & with God's love for you in mind.

Very interesting, engaging, and easy-to-read study of the Catholic faith from the point of view of grace, sin, morality, scripture, and ritual (among other areas!). It was a pleasure to read this book and Burtchaell's insights are intelligent, but not uncomprehendable. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants a deeper appreciation of both the background of basic Catholic practices & teachings joined with some modern suggestions and observations (a little spice!). Philemon's Problem is also our problem. Find out why!