The Priestly Sins

By Andrew M. Greeley

Book Overview

Not since his runaway bestseller, "The Cardinal Sins," has Father Andrew M. Greeley written such a searing and topical novel about the state of the Catholic Church. "The Priestly Sins" tells the story of Father Herman Hoffman, a gifted and innocent young man from the distant prairies of the Great Plains. In the first summer of his first parish appointment, Hoffman is swept up in The Crisis after witnessing child abuse in the parish rectory. He tells the pastor, the father of the victim, and the local police but is rebuffed by the archbishop. Soon he is vilified for denouncing a priest who has been "cleared" by the police and learns the harsh fate of the whistle-blower in the contemporary Catholic church: He is locked up in a mental-health center and then sent into exile to do graduate study. In Chicago to study immigrant history, he encounters the local "Vicar for Extern Priests," the legendary Monsignor Blackie Ryan, who helps him regain his confidence. Hoffman returns home to demand a parish of his own from the archbishop. Reluctantly, the church hierarchy assigns him to a dying parish, but by his zeal and charm Hoffman revives the local church. His brief idyll is shattered by a subpoena to testify in a court hearing. If he speaks, he will have to take on the "downtown" establishment that is determined to destroy him and many of his fellow priests who want to be rid of this painful reminder of a sinful past. Hoffman faces exile not only from his parish, but from the priesthood itself. Writing from the author's fifty years of experience as a priest, The Priestly Sins will be criticized by some but embraced by most as an all-too-candid story of all-too-human priests. "The Priestly Sins" is Father Greeley's most electrifying novel in three decades, a novel sure to rise up the bestseller lists.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076531052X
• ISBN13: 9780765310521
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Forge Books
• Length: 301 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.6" x 1.1" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Greeley never misses!

As always, Andrew Greeley explores the complexities of human behavior and spiritual searching. Excellent book.

A Winner

I was wandering around the Orange County Airport last weekend waiting for my flight back to San Francisco when I found this book. I thought I had read all of Greeley's works, so imagine my delight in finding this extraordinary book. This isn't so much about Priestly Sins as it is the story of a remarkable people, the Russian German pioneers who settled the Great Plains, their love of the soil and their love of their church. It is a beautifully written, sensitive story about becoming a priest, love, and humanity. Well done, Andrew Greeley.

An Insider's View

I have been a fan of Father Andrew Greeley for nearly 15 years. Starting with The Cardinal Sins on through The Priestly Sins I have thoroughly enjoyed Father Greeley's wit, his unapologetic view of the Catholic Church, and his continued love of that same church. There was a time when I stopped reading Father Greeley's books because they became to schmaltzy for my tastes, but The Priestly Sins is a return to the early Father Greeley. In this novel he takes on the abuse scandals that have plagued the Church in the last few years. While Father Greeley does not hold back in speaking out against the scandals, the abusive priests, and the Church hierarchy, neither is this a hatchet job. Father Greeley has some definate opinions on the failure of some in the Church to confront this issue and nip it in the beginning instead of allowing it to continue, to damage the lives of so many young people who trusted their Church. But moreover, Father Greeley still has an obvious love for his faith and its ability to heal, to forgive, and to bring joy into people's lives. Like Herman Hoffman in the novel, I'm sure Father Greeley will not endear himself to some Catholics, especially in the hierarchy of the Church, but then Father Greeley has never seemed to care about that, and he has done more to bring a human face, a humanizing quality to the men and women to who serve in the Church than anyone else. As someone who is not Catholic I may be able to look at this differently, but I truly believe this is one of the best novels Father Greeley has every written.

Fascinating story of a priest and the coverup crisis

Herman Hoffman thought his hardest task would be to decide between his love for the beautiful Irish-American Kathleen and his calling to the church. And that was a difficult choice. But what he found once he'd entered the priesthood was worse. When Hoffman blew the whistle on a fellow priest he caught in the act of raping a teenaged boy, Hoffman was committed to a mental institution, kept doped for months, and finally sent to graduate school as a form of exile. Still, Hoffman fights for his calling--against all of the pressure that the power of the Archbishopric can bring. Author Andrew M. Greeley deals with one of the most explosive issues facing the Catholic Church in America--the fact of priestly abuse and the even more serious fact of high-ranking cover-up. For decades, anyone who stood for the truth was hounded from the church, boycotted, shunned, and even committed. And the church that Greeley exposes (Greeley is a Catholic priest) is rife with all of the sins that the newspapers cover. But it remains a church of hope. And Father Hoffman stands as a positive example of what people of faith can do. Greeley is a talented author and his strong writing brings to life the emotional growth of Hoffman from youth to accepting his calling, his struggles once he'd witnessed the rape (including support from Greeley's beloved sleuth Bishop Blackey), and the story of the Volga Deutsche (Germans who came to America by way of a century or so spent on the plains of Russia after being invited there during Peter the Great's western push). Greeley shares his mystical vision of the church in an interesting way with the spirit of Hoffman's long-dead great grandmother playing a significant role. Fans of Greeley's mysteries and love stories will want to savor this more complex tale.

AN ACCOMPLISHED, COMPELLING READING

Those of you who have had the privilege of attending one of Rev. Greeley's lectures as he travels about the country know that his voice is both distinctive and compelling. In all probability, as a novice priest his training in the reading of scripture has added a timber, a luster, if you will to his speaking. From wherever this ability comes he possesses a voice that commands attention, which makes this audio edition of "The Priestly Sins" a particularly fine listening experience. Using fiction as his pulpit Rev. Greeley addresses the sad story of sexual abuse by priests and the coverups perpetrated by church officials. He tellingly imagines the story of a young priest, Herman Hoffman, and his experiences after seeing a fellow priest abuse a child. One needs look no further than Rev. Greeley's website to find his stance on the subject of abuse within the church. He writes: "I have, for the record, been warning Church leadership since 1985 that it was "sitting on an atom bomb" created by the reassignment of abusing priests. One victim of a priest is one too many. One reassigned abuser is one too many. The number of abusing priests (1205) and victims (4268), is horrific." As in the past whether the subject was the celibacy of priests, the infallibility of the Pope, or the ordination of women, Rev. Greeley speaks with refreshing candor and intelligence. It would do us all well to listen. - Gail Cooke