Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Jimmy Breslin has
established himself as one of America's most distinctively
Catholic voices. We have also come to know Breslin as the
cocky guy from Queens, New York, who speaks insolently to
powerful people and institutions, his words always tinged
with a healthy amount of unsentimental outer-borough humor.
Now, with a mix of sadness and anger, Breslin turns his
sights on the Roman Catholic Church. After a lifetime of
attending mass every Sunday, Breslin has severed his ties to
the church he once loved, and, in this important book,
filled with a fury generated by a sense of betrayal, he
explains why.
When the church sex scandals emerged relentlessly in recent
years, and when it became apparent that these scandals had
been covered up by the church hierarchy, Breslin found it
impossible to reconcile his faith with this new reality.
Ever the reporter, he visited many victims of molestation by
priests and found lives in emotional chaos. He questioned
the bishops and found an ossified clergy that has a sense of
privilege and entitlement. Thus disillusioned with his
church, though not with his faith, he writes about the loss
of moral authority yet uses his trademark mordant humor to
good effect.
Breslin's righteous anger is put to use. Imagining a renewed
church, along with practical solutions such as married
priests and female priests, The Church That Forgot Christ
also reminds us that Christ wore sandals, not gold vestments
and rings, and that ultimately what the Catholic Church
needs most is a healthy dose of Christianity. In that sense,
Breslin has written a dark book that is full of hope and
possibility. It is a book that only Jimmy Breslin could have
written.
© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy