Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul

by Tony Hendra

Book Overview

A New York Times Bestseller. A key comic writer of the past three decades has created his most heartfelt and hard-hitting book. Father Joe is Tony Hendra's inspiring true story of finding faith,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400061849
• ISBN13: 9781400061846
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Loved it !

I absolutely loved this book. The author speaks to each of us who are living in a secular world and are conflicted. I couldn't put it down and can't wait to read it more fully.

True Life Story of One Man's Redemption.

This story is in a way everyone's story of life's events, some good, some mistakes, some devastating, some serious lessons. I so appreciate this talented writer's account of the years of his life in which this gentle monk influenced him to continue on his quest for the god-driven life. I have known a few people in my life who gave me the kind of inspiration Father Joe gave. Two were my grandmothers, who managed to live through difficult times of hardship without giving up, or blaming others, or becoming harsh or bitter. I still have them as ideals, of the best kind of person one can be; calm, patient, strong, and confident in the power of the God who made us. Tony Hendra was indeed fortunate in having Father Joe in his life. I had my grandmothers. We should all be so fortunate. This is a book that can inspire a reader to look for the kind of spiritual guide that Mr. Hendra had in Father Joe. What a worthwhile effort that is!

The Audio Book

Brilliantly written, enormously enjoyable to listen to! I've said it before, I find it amusing when reviews of the same book can be so contradictory; it's too religious; it's not religious enough; it's a great book about a great man (Fr. Joe); it's a book that is really about Tony Hendra, and so forth. The book is what it is, a (very less than perfect) man's encounter over a lifetime, with his faith as sometimes guided by a gentle and wise but also less than perfect priest. From a religious standpoint, it is the story of a faith journey, not a perfect journey (whose is?), but a journey none the less from which one can learn. From a literary standpoint it is a well told story that sometimes had me laughing so hard that I nearly wrecked the car (insert your joke about St. Peter's Gate here). If you are a very right wing conservative, don't bother reading this, otherwise, you might find something in it that you enjoy.

The Most Powerful 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.

If you're only going to read one book this summer....

Along with a gaggle of smart (just ask us!) young men in New York, I worked with Tony Hendra on a number of humor projects two decades ago. Beyond our wit, we all shared one attribute --- in the words of the lone female on the team, "You're all guys who don't want to go home." My reason was prosaic: no girlfriend. Hendra's, it turns out, was more complicated.Tony Hendra never talked about his background. I assumed that he was, like the rest of us, -in flight from something --- you don't gravitate to comedy because you're happy. But the nub of it was, Hendra had been happy. And for an amazing reason: He had been, at least in his own mind, a teenage monk.It happened this way: "I was fourteen and having an affair with a married woman." Well, not quite. This English schoolboy was taking religious instruction from an eccentric Catholic named Ben Bootle and spending too much time with Bootle's wife. Lily Bootle was a tortured soul, drawn to the "sins of the flesh" and terrified of them as well. She fell hard for this brilliant student (even if he did crib the math homework from his schoolmate, Stephen Hawking). The difference in their ages? Didn't matter. They began with kissing. His hand moved south. And then her husband walked in.Ben Bootle's response was not what you would expect: He took Tony on a little trip. Two hours on a train across England, a half hour on a ferry to the Isle of Wight, a short bus ride --- at last they reached a Benedictine monastery called Quarr Abbey and Ben introduced Tony to a big-nosed, floppy-eared, knobby-kneed, grinning monk. Tony knelt at his feet to confess. "No no no no," Father Joseph Warrilow said. "Sit down next to me." He took Tony's hand. "Now, dear, tell me everything."Tony did. When he finished, Father Joe said, "Poor Lily." That was it: no judgment, no prediction of brimstone, just total acceptance of Tony's story, complete forgiveness for what happened ("You've done nothing really wrong, Tony dear") and endless compassion for Lily's pain and loneliness. Penance? "I think you've already done a good deal of penance," Father Joe told the astonished boy.Father Joe stood. "I didn't want him to go," Hendra writes. "I'd never felt so safe and secure with anyone in my life.....I wanted to tell him everything that had ever happened in my few years. There were a million things I wanted to ask him."But Father Joe had to be up early. "We'll see each other again and talk and talk. God bless you, my dear.""Again the hug, again the swirl of skirts, again the super-sandals squeaking away down the linoleum," Hendra writes. "Then silence. And peace."Over the decades, Hendra would lose that peace, even as he gained the world. (Many of you will remember him as "Ian Faith," the cricket-bat wielding manager of the crazy rock band featured in the legendary mockumentary "Spinal Tap.") While he spares us the gory details, he spares himself nothing --- he is, he tells us, a loathsome husband, a despicable parent.But don't forget the