Tim Unsworth: Articles from the National Catholic Reporter

By Tim Unsworth

For twenty-five years, Tim Unsworth wrote for The National Catholic Reporter. Sometimes searing, sometimes deeply sympathetic always funny his sacred irreverence touched millions of readers. Now... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 087946366X
• ISBN13: 9780879463663
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: ACTA Publications
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Deeply human stories

According to Robert McClory, National Catholic Reporter columnist Tim Unsworth had an "incurable love for the church that sort of shone through his attacks on (its) pomposity and the superiority." McClory, a colleague of Unsworth, chose the columns in the "Tim Unsworth" collection and wrote a preface for each. In the foreword NCR editor-at-large Tom Roberts praises Unsworth for his "deeply human stories, in which the ordinary is mined for its great strength and humor." A number of columns presented here are critical of Church policies and practices, such as annulment procedures and celibacy. Many others tell of clerics whose everyday dedication to their pastoral calling is no less than heroic. In the column Knee-jerk is still a jerk, no matter what your politics (1984), Unsworth took on conservatives and liberals. He began by suggesting that some conservatives believe the introduction of altar girls "may mean the end of Christian civilization as we know it." He then noted that universities reputed to be liberal are often marked by internal conservatism. "Sometimes I feel positively schizophrenic myself," he wrote. He opposed both abortion and "strident pro-lifers." He was against capital punishment, but infuriated by demonstrators "shedding tears about a guy who reduced some family to chopped liver." Liberals often accused him of not going far enough, and conservatives said he was immature and adolescent. "Their barbs," he wrote, "make me want to throw my yo-yo at the nearest member of Opus Dei." Another column applied the schizophrenia theme to parish liturgies in an upstairs-downstairs situation featuring "yogurt and tofu Christians" shaped like Pillsbury doughboys and "borderline anorexic" polyester-and-wool people. Unsworth found charm in a parish that accommodated both.