Publishing

A few days ago the post brought some pages from The New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2010. I had nearly forgotten that I updated on the articles in it. According to the publisher, the Supplement is "Authoritative and Peer Reviewed" which sounds rather imposing, don't you think? The editor, Dr. Robert Fastiggi, had asked me to update the article on "Mary, Blessed Virgin, Devotion to," originally written by the late Father Eamon Carroll, who died in November, 2008. I think the article was written in 1974 or so. It was a bit intimidating to be called upon to continue the work of a well=known scholar and former professor of mine. The editor especially directed me to discuss developments in the field during the last two pontificates, but I ended up doing more than what he asked. I felt that the sections on Scripture and Early Church needed rewriting to take into account more recent scholarship. The editor accepted my revisions and then I forgot about the whole thing until a big envelope landed on my desk a few days back. I checked to make sure may name was really there (this is something authors can't help doing, sort of like reading the obituaries to make sure your name is not there, and no doubt for the same psychological reasons).

This reminds me that a few months ago I received an issue of Antiphon, the journal of the Society for Catholic Liturgy, with a short article of mine on the word "Salus" in the Roman Missal. I was disappointed to see how brief the article was. I don't seem to write anything lengthy these days. Can't imagine why.