Confessions of a Parish Priest

New York: Simon and Schuster A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. BOOK: Previous Dealer Markings (Remainder Mark); Light Shelf Rub to Boards. DUST JACKET: Lightly Creased; Lightly Chipped; In Archival Quality Jacket Cover. SUB-TITLE: An Autobiography. BOOK NUMBER: 09861845. JACKET PHOTOGRAPH BY: Marc PoKempner. JACKET DESIGN BY: Barry Littmann. CONTENTS: Prologue; PART ONE: TWIN LAKES TO GRAND BEACH One: The Train to Biloxi; Two: Portrait of the Artist; Three: St. Ursula; Four: Quigley; Five: Mundelein; Six: St. Praxides; Seven: Portrait of the Artist: Another View; Eight: You Write Too Much; Nine: Portrait of the Artist: Tertium Quid; Ten: The Company Sociologist of the Catholic Church; Eleven: Sociology and Myth: The Beginnings of Story; PART TWO: FROM SQUARE PEG TO STORYTELLER Twelve: From Council to Encyclical; Thirteen: Grand Beach; Fourteen: God Wouldn't Stay Dead; Fifteen: More Windmills; Sixteen: The Vanishing Due; Seventeen: "That Goddam Encyclical"; Eighteen: Yet More Windmills; Nineteen: "The Blessed Mother and the Catholic Schools"; Twenty: The Making of the Pope; Twenty-One: The Unmaking of the Cardinal; Twenty-Two: Arizona: "It Sure Beats Elba"; Twenty-Three: Storyteller; Twenty-Four: Image and Metaphor (or Fear and Loathing) in Chicago; Twenty-Five: The End of Volume One; Coda: A Return to CK. SYNOPSIS: What is it like to be a Catholic priest during the last three decades of turbulence and change in the Catholic Church? What is it like to be a controversial and influential priest, deeply devoted to the Catholic tradition and at the same time vigorously critical of the timidity and insensitivity of the Church leadership? What is it like to outspokenly address such crucial issues as clerical celibacy and marriage, the impact of the birth-control encyclical on the laity, the systematic exclusion of the woman religious from positions of power with the Church? What is it like to be a priest who turns to writing novels as a means of teaching religion and becomes enormously successful as a novelist? What is it like to be a priest who is assailed by the ecclesiastical leadership precisely because his combination of professional social-science skill and immensely successful fiction makes him a threat? What is it like to be a priest so committed to the priesthood that he can say he will leave it the day after the Cardinal and the day before the Pope? In this candid and often comic autobiography, Father Andrew M. Greeley, priest, sociologist, journalist, and novelist--but most of all, priest--answers such questions. Those who are not Catholic as well as those who are will be fascinated by this inside story of contemporary Catholicism in crisis. - and - Andrew Greeley, the parish priest turned best-selling novelist, now writes his memoirs in this candid, sensitive, and uncensored autobiography that covers his controversial career over three decades of change in the Catholic Church. As one of today's most outspoken and influential Catholic clerics, whose best-sellers have skyrocketed him to fame, Greeley discusses all the major issues facing priests today: tyrannical authority, birth control, celibacy, the role of women in the Church. Through his eyes we gain a special perspective on the major Catholic phenomena of recent years--the turbulent changes of the Second Vatican Council, the papal elections, the resignation of many priests and nuns, the Cardinal Cody scandal in Chicago. This is Greeley's own feisty and yet thoughtful view of the world and the Church. He spares neither the rigidity of the right, the timidity of bishops, the mediocrity and envy of the left, nor his own errors and mistakes. He trenchantly defends his novels against those who dismiss them as "pornography" or "trash" and argues with massive evidence that they have precisely the effect he intends as "comedies of grace". Confessions of a Parish Priest is also a fascinating revelation of the wellsprings of Greeley's own imagination and spirituality, especially in the symbolism of the Lake, the myths of ancient Ireland, and the symbol of a womanly God--a God who interjects Her own opinions and criticisms of the author in this intriguing story. He also discloses, often with warmly nostalgic affection, the experiences of neighborhood, family, and human love in his life and in the parishes that provide the wonderful characters of his novels. This is must reading for anyone who wants to know the story behind Father Greeley's controversial life and writing. Andrew M. Greeley is the author of seven best-selling novels including Angels of September, Virgin and Martyr, Lord of the Dance, and many more, as well as a regular contributor to such publications as The New York Times, TV Guide, and the Chicago Sun-Times. Father Greeley has also written countless nonfiction works on religion, sociology, Catholic education; books of meditation and catechism; and devotional books. These include The Making of the Popes and The Mary Myth. He is a priest of the archdiocese of Chicago and professor of sociology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he does weekend work in three parishes.. First Edition 2nd Printing. Hard Cover. As New/As New. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Remainder.