Making Corrections

An occasional embarrassment of publication is the discovery of errors. While these are often purely textual, they occasionally involve the reproduction of local urban legends. This past month I became aware that this had occurred in my first published monograph, The Road to Renewal. I must therefore admit that on page 202, I describe the publicity given by the National Catholic Reporter to Father John Bloms following his employment of girl servers at the Catholic parish in Ada, Oklahoma, as dating from 1964.

The diminutive Benedictine did indeed feature on the front page of the national paper celebrating the Eucharist facing the people and flanked by two young female parishioners, but although he instituted this practice in 1964, it was not until November 24, 1965 that reporters finally caught up with him. Two weeks later, the National Catholic Reporter dutifully reported that Father Bloms had signified his submission to an episcopal injunction to cease and desist.

While my error does not detract from the essential truth of the story, it nevertheless requires correction and this seems the best forum in which to acknowledge it.