(Click here, or on image for a full sized view). Priests: A Calling in Crisis |
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For several
years now, the Roman Catholic Church and the institution of the priesthood itself have
been at the center of a firestorm of controversy. While
some of the criticisms lodged against the recent actions of the Church—and a small
number of its priests—are justified, many of them are not. Hyperbolic and misleading coverage of recent
scandals has created a public image of American priests that bear little relation to
reality, and Andrew Greeley’s Priests skewers this image with a systematic
inside look at American priests today. |
Keep in touch... Locally, and Globally!  Check out Andrew M. Greeley's Columns for the Chicago SunTimes' Daily Southtown. |
No stranger
to controversy himself, Greeley here challenges those analysts and the media who parrot
them in placing the blame for recent Church scandals on the mandate of celibacy or a
clerical culture that supports homosexuality. Drawing
upon reliable national survey samples of priests, Greeley demolishes current stereotypes
about the percentage of homosexual priests, the level of personal and professional
happiness among priests, the role of celibacy in their lives, and many other issues. His findings are more than surprising: they
reveal, among other things, that priests report higher levels of personal and professional
satisfaction than doctors, lawyers, or college faculty; that they would overwhelmingly
choose to become priests again; and that younger priests are far more conservative than
their older brethren. While the picture
Greeley paints should radically reorient the public perception of priests, he does not
hesitate to criticize the Church’s significant shortcomings. Most priests, for example, do not think the sexual
abuse problems are serious, and they do not think that poor preaching or liturgy is a
problem, though the laity give them very low marks on their ministerial skills. Priests do
not listen to the laity, bishops do not listen to priests, and the Vatican does not listen
to any of them. With Greeley’s
statistical evidence and provocative recommendations for change—including a national
“Priest Corps” that would offer young men a limited term of service in the
Church—Priests offers a new vision for American Catholics, one based on real
problems and solutions rather than on images of a depraved, immature, and frustrated
priesthood.
About the Author ANDREW M. GREELEY
is a prolific author who is also on the staff of the National Opinion Research Center at
the University of Chicago and professor of social science at the University of Arizona. His nonfiction books include Confessions of a
Parish Priest, Religious Change in America, The Catholic Imagination, and
The Catholic Revolution.
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