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 many of the criticisms lodged against the recent
actions of the Church--and a small number of its priests--are justified,
the majority of these criticisms are not. Hyperbolic and misleading
coverage of recent scandals has created a public image of American
priests that bears little relation to reality, and Andrew Greeley's
Priests skewers this image with a systematic inside look at American
priests today.
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 faculty members; 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.
