An Occasion of Sin

by Andrew M. Greeley

The relationship between a cardinal and a beautiful woman comes under scrutiny when the cardinal is martyred and becomes a candidate for sainthood

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Novels

351 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1991

About the author

Andrew Greeley was a Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist, and author of 50 best-selling novels and more than 100 works of nonfiction. For decades, Greeley entertained readers with such popular characters as the mystery-solving priest Blackie Ryan and the fey, amateur sleuth Nuala Anne McGrail. His books typically center on Irish-American Roman Catholics living or working in Chicago.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/andrew...

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a gift. Not my normal read, however I found it interesting, and being Catholic Lite (C of E) I am always interested in books that include Rome and the church.

Story: An Archbishop is killed, and then it is discovered he might have performed miracles. Should he be considered a Saint?

A Priest, who was never a fan of the Archbishop was assigned to dig deep into his life, he is to find anything to prove or disprove the Sainthood, and he is to make sure that there are no "smoking guns" that Rome would be embarrassed about.

Father Laurence McAuliffe takes the task seriously, and delves into John McGlynn's life. His travels take him all over Europe and interviews with Mossad! What Father McAuliffe finds out, about the Archbishop Johnny whom he did not like, surprises him, but sainthood is never granted over night!

[Adele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy reading Greeley's books. This might be the most daring book of his that I have read. His investigation into the life of John Cardinal McGlynn certainly takes some interesting twists and turns involving his admiration of women and serving as a courier for the underground. The big question is: Following his death and supposed miracles attributed to him, should he be canonized by the Catholic Church. That is the dilemma Father McAuliffe is commissioned to resolve.

[Megan Devlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading an Andrew Greeley novel always feels a little like slumming it to me, but, particularly in the books from his first 10 years as a novelist, he always has a delightful touch of gentle theology worked in with the potboiler fiction. I'll take a Greeley over Grisham any day.

[Carleen Poellinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story, keeps your interest to continue reading.

[TheWeatherWitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars. I enjoyed the novel. It's Just fictions but very brave

[Barb Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and long journey to canonization. The end was good.

[Chuckles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting mix of mystery and political thriller from Greeley. A Cardinal is gunned down in Nicaragua, and dies in the arms of his lifelong friend, a wealthy woman whom many have been closer to him that his vocation would allow. After a miracle occurs connected to an item worn by the deceased, a push begins to beautify the martyred Cardinal Assigned with another priest to investigate the departed, is Father Laurence in the "devil's advocate" role. He knew and disliked the Cardinal since they were were teens; he resented the Cardinal's slickster charm and easy manner which led to his rise in the Church. What he finds involves Cold War Vatican intrigue in addition to the matter of his relationship with is old friend.

This wasn't billed as a mystery like the Bishop Blackie Ryan books, but I enjoyed this aspect of it more than any of that series and consider this one of Greeley's best novels. People focused too much on the fact that Greeley was a priest and wrote about sex and tittered over every time a character cursed; everything he wrote was pretty tame, there was nothing lurid in this book or any of the dozen or so I read. What I enjoyed about his books was his inclusion of the priest "detective" behaving as such; taking the time to minister to people, seeing the nature of their character in how they act and interact with people... Here that is on full display as Fr Bar uncovers the good and the bad, and in the end those two things no longer mean what they did to him at the beginning of the tale. It was a great character arc for the central character in this novel.'

I read this in the early 2000s after discovering Father Greeley's novels through a friend. Most are set in Chicago, and most feature priests or relate in some important aspect to the Church, and others were focused on Irish or Irish American characters. They were easy to find in used bookstores in Chicago but I later came to be surprised at how little they are known outside the region and now they are hard to find. I may try to obtain another copy of this book or a Kindle copy for a reread, I really enjoyed it.

[Shan O · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm making my way through mystery, thriller, and detective fiction right now in anticipation of writing something myself, and I decided to look at Greeley because he's been a successful crossover writer. He's a Roman Catholic priest, college professor, and writer, and his novels usually combine all of his vocations somehow.

An Occasion of Sin is a mystery, of a sort. An R.C. Cardinal has been killed in Central America, and the laity are moving for his beatification and eventual canonization as a saint. But the Vatican wants to keep control and isn't so sure about whether the guy is fit to be a saint or not. Greely follows the investigating priest (in what used to be called the Devil's Advocate role) as he tries to find out the truth about this man who would be a saint.

While it's an interesting book with multiple narrators, it falls flat in some key places, particularly in terms of dialogue, which often seems forced. It's a good read if you want to learn something about the 20th century process of beatification in the Roman Catholic tradition, however.

UPDATE: I finished An Occasion of Sin and found it harder to put down as I neared the end. Some of the revelations in the latter part of the book were fairly predictable, but the book gained momentum as the narrative came to a close, and the lead character continued to be engaging enough to follow around.

[Phyllis Gauker · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are a Catholic hater, you'll love Andrew Greeley's books because they are usually about the corruption in the church from the vatican on down. This is the story of the life of one priest from the time he became convinced he should be a priest, because his mother desired this, to the time after his death when miracles were being performed from having touched his tombstone etc. Each chapter is labeled with the name of someone in his family, or that of a close associate, fellow priest etc. We get an overview of the hated and loved man who had become the Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago. Ultimately, the job of trying to ascertain if Jumping Johnny could really be a saint, despite some questionable behavior.

[Yuliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Habiendo sido escrita por un sacerdote, no me sorprende el dominio de los temas políticos de la iglesia. Toca los temas sobre sexo, corrupción y jerarquía en la iglesia católica, sin dejar de lado la interesante historia que se desarrolla.

Un sacerdote juega el papel de "abogado del diablo" mientras cumple con la misión de investigar un supuesto milagro. En el camino descubre secretos que pudiesen hacer temblar los cimientos de la iglesia católica.

[Cws]

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