Reverend Vincent J McNally PhD (Dublin) is a Professor in the Department of Church History at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Wisconsin.
"McNally's book provides more than historical recitation. He well
recounts the story, but his assessments of what took place provide
an important and serious wake-up call.. To read this book is to be
confronted with a reality, shorn of propaganda and pious sentiment,
that is both a bitter pill and a harbinger of hope." Wayne Holst,
Catholic New Times
"Vincent McNally's monograph, published under the auspices of
Oblate Project, is a sweeping and passionately written overview of
the history of the Catholic Church in British Columbia and will
justifiably become the standard reference work for professional
historians, students, and those just simply interested in religion,
missiology, or the Canadian west.... McNally is a tireless
researcher, who has probed deeply into the primary sources, but who
has considerable insight into how these rich sources materials must
be read within the broader historical context of European
Catholicism and its eventual importation into Canada and the United
States. With considerable intellectual skill and a vigorous
narrative, McNally invites us into a world in which the stories of
Euro-Canadian missionaries, French- and Scottish-Canadian fur
traders, American capitalists, ambitious churchmen, and numerous
First Nations Peoples, are woven together into a vibrant and
controversial social tapestry.... McNally's survey is not for the
faint of heart, nor in any way does it smack of Catholic
trimphalism.... The Lord's Distant Vineyard will be the subject of
considerable debate in both Oblate and historical circles for years
to come; this is a credit to the significance of the book, and the
talent and insight of its author." Mark McGowan, The Catholic
Historical Review
"... those who want to know how the Catholic church in B.C. was
formed will want to delve into this useful work."
CanadianChristianity.com
"....Its distinctiveness derives from the critical edge that
pervades McNally's writing and spares neither the church's policies
nor its clergy.... McNally has produced a thoroughly researched and
well-written book that deserves to be consulted for its sharply
critical accounts of missionary activity and of church social
policy in British Columbia."
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