Friday, December 03, 2004
NEW PRESS IN TOWN
I'm going to take the easy way out and copy and paste Michael Greaney's email to me. The first book off the press is a reprint that just might come in handy if you have a hard-to-buy-for teenager on your list.
You may already have heard, but, because of your interest in books with a moral orientation, I thought I'd send you my "canned" notice about our republication of the only novel ever written by Knute Rockne, Notre Dame's famed football coach. This is a "young adult" sports novel, THE FOUR WINNERS: THE HEAD, THE HANDS, THE FOOT, THE BALL, available from Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.
Even though Once-and-Future Books has an interfaith orientation, espousing principles of natural law, our ultimate goal, to which the organization contributes in a small way, is the restructuring of the social order as detailed by Pius XI and analyzed by Fr. William J. Ferree, S.M., Ph.D. (THE ACT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE, 1942) We believe that popular culture is, in part, formed by the media, and morally-oriented media increase the receptivity to acquiring and developing the moral virtues. Once-and-Future Books was founded to supply morally-oriented entertainment, with the aim of getting people who otherwise do nothing but complain about the quality of available entertainment to "put their money where their mouths are." THE FOUR WINNERS is our "point man" in this effort, which we anticipate will raise the financing for additional titles, such as the novels of Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson and other neglected writers.
Even though we picked THE FOUR WINNERS as our first offering primarily because of name recognition and it's written as a sports book in the "young adult" genre, we've discovered some surprising things as we reread and study it. We've found some interesting insights into Rockne's management style. It seems that the former chemistry professor had an inherent understanding of Justice-Based Management ("JBM") and an instinctive understanding of the principles of social justice. JBM is an integral part of the "Just Third Way" promoted by the interfaith Center for Economic and Social Justice ("CESJ"; www.cesj.org).
Possibly the most revealing aspect of Rockne's "system" was his emphasis on teaching. You see this to a small extent in Rockne's novel, but Harry Stuhldreher recalled in his book (KNUTE ROCKNE, ALL AMERICAN, 1931) that Rockne held daily lectures after lunch to which the entire student body, not just the football team, were invited. Rockne felt it was important not only to understand how to play football, but the whys and wherefores as well. This comes very close to the act of social charity as described by Fr. Ferree. Rockne was an early advocate of "cross training," and believed that when a player had the whole picture he would always do the right thing. He applied this philosophy to the whole of his life, and worked to form the characters of the young men he trained along the same lines.
Yours,
Michael D. Greaney
Director of Research
Center for Economic and Social Justice
