By Mary Lackie

Catholic reading tastes are more Catholic since Vatican II, said Miss Alberta Fleck of the Notre Dame Book Shop.

“There has been a wide veering away from the old Victorian books,’ she said. “Those books admitted that certain things existed but in a hush-hush way, and the religious used to buy books that were just too saccharine for words.’ A full-time volunteer at the book shop, Miss Fleck has worked for seven years as buyer of adult hardcover books. She has noted many changes.

Some of her observations:

--“When we had a lending library and de Chardin’s “Phenomenon of Man” first appeared on the shelf, a nun noticed it. ‘Let me have it, let me have it quick, before thy tell me I can’t read it.’ I don’t think that would happen now.”

--“Books on birth control, sex education and the pill are in demand by parents. Things have been dragged out into the open and people are recognizing that there are certain situations and conditions that need to be studied. Even teaching nuns are finding a need for books on the subjects of sex and dating. It gives them some idea of what their students are going through.”

--“Only five or six years ago the list of theological writers was narrowed down to one or two. Now every theologian that can hold a pen is writing. Publishers that were formerly considered ‘Catholic’ are bringing out books that were once considered controversial, almost taboo.’

--“Censorship was never really effective. Doing away with the imprimatur and the Index has opened up a desire for many books people just didn’t buy before the council—or if they did, it was an undercover sort of thing. When you stop to think of it, the books on the Index could only be found on musty library shelves.”

On the bookshop shelves now are books about Martin Luther and “the period of history which he represented,’ said Miss Fleck. “Luther really brought about many of the changes in the Church—there is no point in playing ostrich and hiding your head in the sand.”

The book buyer believes that if there is controversy on a subject, it should be brought out. “It is human frailty that we have prejudice; unless we are shaken out of it, we won’t change.” She also believes that people would have a better understanding of what is going on in the Church “If only they would sit down and read and not just take someone else’s opinion as their own,” Miss Fleck said. “If you don’t have both sides of a question, you can’t make valid judgments or criticism.”

The new “questioning attitude” is reflected in the customers’ purchases. From Rahner and Kung, customers have turned to reading “non-Catholic writers of note”, Miss Fleck said. Among current bestsellers: Tillich, Bonnhoefer, Kierkegaard, Yves Congar, Archbishop Ramsey.

Also popular are “The Documents of Vatican II, the “New Testament in Modern English” by Phillips, “Psychology of Loving” by Ignace Lepp, and “Prayers” by Michel Quoist. “but it has always seemed strange to me,” said Miss Fleck, “that books about the popes, with the exception of Pope John and ‘Journey of the Soul’ are not popular.”

Miss Fleck recalled the days when a priest would come in, see a certain book and say, “You had better put that away. It is all right for priests to read, but don’t put it on the shelf.”

In contrast, she noted: “Now the young priest, and we have many of them in this archdiocese—are among our better buyers. They are closer in age and education to the changes that are taking place. Perhaps the older priests would have enjoyed reading, but they didn’t’ have the time. They were too busy building—too much was expected of them.”

Among the shop’s best customers are Archbishop Hallinan and Bishop Bernardin. “Archbishop Hallinan is a well-read man,’ said Miss Fleck, “and has a great interest in history.”

People are reading more for information than they once did, she said. Laymen and women involved in dialogue groups will come in to buy books that the priest-moderator has recommend. Since many foreign writers use words and phrases “In a way we don’t often use them, the reader loses something when he doesn’t look up a word and get the fine shade of meaning.”

Reference books Miss Fleck considers “a must for every classroom and home” include the “Dictionary of the Bible,” “Catholic Dictionary”, and the new “Dictionary of Theology.”

In her years at the shop, Miss Fleck has never met an author of the books she has bought. But she came to know de Chardin through his “Letters”. “In letters, a writer unburdens himself; you get to know the man as he really is,’ she said. “I think the reason I like de Chardin so much is because he was so thoroughly honest and perhaps he was ahead of his time.”

The Notre Dame Book Shop has gone through many changes in its time. It began 19 years ago with 60 donated books, a sample rosary and a sample missal. Now in its fifth location, the bookshop is at 329 Ivy St., N.W., in the old Marist school building. Modern gift items and of course, the books, attract customers—“particularly the younger generation,” Miss Fleck said. “If only we of the older generation can come to a meeting of the minds, this change will be good.”