Mary Nicholas - The Devil and Bella Dodd: One Womans Struggle Against Communism and Her Redemption

PRAISE FOR THE DEVIL
AND BELLA DODD:

From Communism to Catholicismand even politicsBella Dodd lived an incredible life, and one lived against the odds. Mary Nicholas and Paul Kengor bring to life her walk from the dark side to the sunny path of faith in a Cold War saga of redemption that remains timely and provocative today.

John Gizzi, White House Correspondent, Newsmax

I couldnt put this book down. It seems timelier than ever as socialism continues to spread in our country and throughout our institutions. But more than anything, it is a beautiful testament to the peace and love offered not by ideologies but by Christ and his Church.

Carrie Gress, Author of The Anti-Mary Exposed

With impeccable research and riveting prose, readers of this book are introduced to the life of Bella Dodd, a former member of the Communist Partys national executive committee, and a woman who spent much of her time in the Party trying to weaken the Catholic Church from within. Mary Nicholas and Paul Kengor are a perfect team for this task as Nicholas has devoted much of her professional life to gathering and analyzing original data on Dodd, and no one understands the evil threat of Marxism and communism better than Kengor. Using years of research, coupled with Freedom of Information requests for formerly unpublished material on Dodd, Nicholas and Kengor expose the evil agenda of communists in Americaand Dodds malevolent role in it all. Dodd herself acknowledged that their most important demonic goal was to destroy the faith of the Catholic people by promoting a pseudo-religion of social justice that looked like Catholicism but clearly was not. Nicholas and Kengor expose the many ways in which Bella Dodd appeared to be truly a lost soul. But more importantly, this inspirational book reveals that even the wicked can be saved, as Dodd was saved through divine intervention and the support of the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

Anne Hendershott, Professor, Franciscan University of Steubenville

Bella Dodd is a seminal figure of the Cold War, a brave American woman who fearlessly battled against atheistic communism. She should not be forgotten. Finally, thanks to this work, she wont be.

Sebastian Gorka, PhD, Newsmax Host and former Deputy Assistant and Strategist to the President

Through the fascinating life of Bella Dodd, Kengor and Nicholas offer readers a uniquely intimate window into the lure and trap of a demonic ideology. It is a gripping read. Far more than just historically valuable, this book is essential reading today, unmasking much of what led us here, and pointing to the real and robust hope that should animate us still.

Noelle Mering, Author of Awake, Not Woke

Paul Kengor and his newly discovered co-author, Dr. Mary Nicholas, have produced a tour-de-force analysis of the enigmatic former communist Bella Dodd. A thorough study of her writings and testimonies, along with in-depth interviews with people who knew Dodd, The Devil and Bella Dodd provides careful answers to important questions. Did Bella Dodd really place over 1,000 communist spies in Catholic seminaries? Youll have to read this fine book to find out!

Jennifer Roback Morse, Founder and President, The Ruth Institute

If youve surveyed the wreckage from Marxs hellish ideas in The Devil and Karl Marx, you wont want to miss the storyline of escape and redemption in The Devil and Bella Dodd. Written by Mary Nicholas and Paul Kengor, this new biography of Dodd is formidable. In a world with much misinformation about Dodd, Nicholas and Kengor have rigorously researched their subject, allowing them to speak persuasively on questions as thorny as the possible communist infiltration of the Catholic priesthood. Masterfully analyzed, The Devil and Bella Dodd is a powerful book about what happens when pernicious ideas grip a souland what happens when grace snatches her back.

Julia Meloni, Author of The St. Gallen Mafia

There is nothing hidden that will not come to light. But hidden things may fester a long while, as Bella Dodd proved after her reversion to the Catholic Church by revealing the extent of the communist conspiracy in America that she had helped to spread. Mary Nicholas and the prolific Paul Kengor have performed a great service by shining a new and delightful light on this remarkable woman.

Michael Knowles, The Daily Wire

THE DEVIL AND BELLA DODD

THE DEVIL AND
BELLA DODD

ONE WOMANS STRUGGLE AGAINST
COMMUNISM AND HER REDEMPTION

MARY A. NICHOLAS, MD
AND PAUL KENGOR, PHD

TAN BOOKS
GASTONIA, NORTH CAROLINA

The Devil and Bella Dodd: One Womans Struggle against Communism and Her Redemption 2022 Mary A. Nicholas and Paul Kengor

All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts used in critical review, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in any form whatsoever, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Creation, exploitation and distribution of any unauthorized editions of this work, in any format in existence now or in the futureincluding but not limited to text, audio, and videois prohibited without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America copyright 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with Permission.

Cover design by David Ferriswww.davidferrisdesign.com.

Cover image: Hammer and sickle by luma_art / Shutterstock, People's Republic of China CN by Dmitriy_KRD / Shutterstock.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022914006

ISBN: 978-1-5051-2918-2
Kindle ISBN: 978-1-5051-2919-9
ePUB ISBN: 978-1-5051-2920-5

Published in the United States by
TAN Books
PO Box 269
Gastonia, NC 28053
www.TANBooks.com

This book is dedicated to the men and women who had the courage to leave the Communist Party; to those who had the courage to write about their odysseys; to the dedicated congressional committees that investigated the Communist Party; and to the publishers who had the courage to publish their stories.

CONTENTS

Step by step, I retreated from God and went forth to meet the
world, the flesh, and the devil. Id join the devil himself.
There is no doubt that I traveled with him at my side
and that he extorted a great price for his company.

Bella Dodd, Roads to Rome

T his book is about conversion and recovery, about hope and redemption. It is about overcoming evil, about looking for a flicker of faith beyond the cold walls of a school of darkness. It is about one persons dramatic break from what fellow ex- communists called the god that failed. That god was no angel. It was a fallen angel.

It is the story of a clever organizer who lived in a false utopian dream and, hearing faint rumblings in the dark, finally awoke and jumped up. No, none of it was truewhat she saw, what they said. Their faux reality was a nightmare. It was always nighttime in their world. And morning never came. Her life changed drastically. She had finally put all the pieces together and had to tell others the truth. Describing it was the next part of her journey, draining the lies and hatred from herself. She had to tell her country and the world.

Hers was a struggle with the Communist Party, with comrades, with the media, but ultimately with herself. Because she learned acutely that, in the end, communism is more than a crime against a country; it is a crime against the soul, the human spirit itself. It is a battle against the supernatural dimension of man, the spiritual element that makes each of us most human in the eyes and image of Godthe God that does not fail. Sadly, communism totally rejected this belief in God, as it was a philosophy of pure materialism. Being trapped in communism, like being trapped in quicksand, makes extrication seem impossible, unless there is a helping hand to save you.