The Wiles of Sexton Maginnis by Maurice Francis Egan
October 2019
The Wiles of Sexton Maginnis is a novel that describes Roman Catholic parish life in a small, working-class, post-Civil War Maryland town, in a thoroughly delightful, humorous way—and especially deals with the issue of merging ethnicities within a parish, an issue so familiar to Americans.
And this is not just about the Italians who are suddenly attending (and threatening to dominate) formerly-100%-Irish St. Kevin’s, where adamantly-Irish, Kerry-born Lewis Maginnis is sexton. Believe it or not, as the reader will soon learn, even within the Irish community itself there is rivalry between groups depending upon where in Ireland they traced their ancestry, and likewise to the Italians it is crucial to know whether one is Sicilian or Genoese!
Ah, what could be more American than that?
And this is not just about the Italians who are suddenly attending (and threatening to dominate) formerly-100%-Irish St. Kevin’s, where adamantly-Irish, Kerry-born Lewis Maginnis is sexton. Believe it or not, as the reader will soon learn, even within the Irish community itself there is rivalry between groups depending upon where in Ireland they traced their ancestry, and likewise to the Italians it is crucial to know whether one is Sicilian or Genoese!
Ah, what could be more American than that?