In 1990, when I first heard about Albanian Catholic writers, I felt a sense of déjà vu. The Berlin Wall had fallen, but for many of us who followed events in the former Communist states, it was unclear how profound or permanent the damage to the cultures of those countries would prove to be. Indeed at that time, Albania, which lagged behind the rest of Eastern Europe in gaining its freedom, was still oppressed by the one-party dictatorship of Ramiz Alia, successor to the infamous Enver Hoxha. Under the latter, Albania had become the only officially atheist state in the world, and religious culture had been rigorously and murderously suppressed. As late as 1972, a Catholic priest, Fr. Shtjefën Kurti, was executed for baptizing a child in Albania. The very concept of Albanian Catholic intellectuals seemed inextricably linked to the worst excesses of leftist totalitarianism.

My perception of an apparent historical echo had its source in ...

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