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The Church That Forgot Christ
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.
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.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
8 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Jimmy Breslin
61 books94 followersJimmy Breslin was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American columnist and author. He wrote numerous novels, and pieces of his have appeared regularly in various newspapers in his hometown of New York City. He was a regular columnist for the newspaper Newsday until his retirement on November 2, 2004.
Among his notable columns, perhaps the best known was published the day after John F. Kennedy's funeral, focusing on the man who had dug the president's grave. The column is indicative of Breslin's style, which often highlights how major events or the actions of those considered "newsworthy" affect the "common man."
Among his notable columns, perhaps the best known was published the day after John F. Kennedy's funeral, focusing on the man who had dug the president's grave. The column is indicative of Breslin's style, which often highlights how major events or the actions of those considered "newsworthy" affect the "common man."
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 28, 2008
Very sad book. Why does the church protect pedophile priests and then tell parishioners that unless they follow ALL the rules, like no birth control, they are NOT catholic and should not go to communion??? A quick read.
October 4, 2007
I admired the hell out of Breslin's previous book, The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Gutierrez, but where that book balanced personal outrage (that was easy to share) with astounding journalism, this book is merely an extended cranky column from an old coot. Yeah, the Catholic sex scandals were indescribably awful, but Breslin's own wrestling with the issue takes up most of the book (not to mention some rambling passages where he tails a homeless man who he's convinced is an incarnation of Christ), and as someone who is not nor ever was raised a Catholic, it's difficult to appreciate. I rejected the Catholic Church the day I was born, what took Breslin so long?
May 17, 2008
This book covers an important topic in the church and one that the church is trying to put behind it. This part of the churchs history must never be forgotten. Unfortunately, this book is more personal memoir and is sritten almost aa a free flowing stream of consciousness narrative. The author strays from his topic far too often to make this book worth reading.
April 30, 2013
"Read" is not quite true, and they probably should have a "half-read" option, such as this book was. I just couldn't take more of the same for the entire 2nd half of the book. I get it, I got it, I believe it, I agree with it, but enough already. It as a bit like watching one of those bad horror movies that are frightening, yes, but formulaic and over-the-top. Lay people > good guys, priests > bad guys.
In fairness, if you love Jimmy Breslin, you might love the book. Someone gave it to me, and this writer is simply not my style.
In fairness, if you love Jimmy Breslin, you might love the book. Someone gave it to me, and this writer is simply not my style.
Want to read
January 15, 2010Library
April 19, 2017
I am saddened by the hurt and damage done to the innocent by so-called men of God.
September 20, 2024
THE POPULAR COLUMNIST AND AUTHOR EXPRESSES HIS FEELINGS ABOUT THE SCANDAL
Journalist, columnist and author Jimmy Breslin wrote in the Prologue of this 2004 book, "the pope called the American cardinals to Rome over their failure to protect children from priests... Afterward, the cardinals and bishops held two more meetings in America... [and] formed a large national commission to investigate every complaint, pluck out all offending priests, and end the dark night. After some months, the bishops announced that they had determined that over four thousand priests had been accused of molesting ten thousand, mostly young boys, from 1950 until 2002, The head of the bishops conference... proclaimed the scandal 'history.' He can no more prove these figures than I can of my considered estimate of twenty-five thousand priests and one hundred thousand victims in those fifty-two years." (Pg. xii)
He asserts, "The bishops and some Vatican bureaucrats believed that they were beyond the law, that their own religious statutes, called canon law, allowed them to handle all transgressions as church business. This could have let the church glide unnoticed through all storms. Crime by clergy was their business alone. They believed that. They really did. They were going to take their instructions from the centuries. Stall, confer, draw the thickest drapes until the room is dark and then tell you that there is a marvelous sunset outside." (Pg. 17)
He says, "my friend Michael Daly of the Daily News newspaper had told me, 'Jack Maple says kids tell him the [Fr. Bruce] Ritter [founder of Covenant House] is a chicken hawk.' Maple was a transit cop who worked Times Square... The phrase 'chicken hawk' was too disturbing for me to grasp. I let the subject pass by me like paper blowing in the gutter. Or I thought I had. Every time I saw Ritter's name, I had doubt running into suspicion. I better start walking Times Square, I told myself." (Pg. 62)
This book is no "journalistic" summary of the entire scandal, but rather one articulate Catholic's indignant reaction to the controversy. His expressions of outrage will find a number of persons agreeing strongly with him.
Journalist, columnist and author Jimmy Breslin wrote in the Prologue of this 2004 book, "the pope called the American cardinals to Rome over their failure to protect children from priests... Afterward, the cardinals and bishops held two more meetings in America... [and] formed a large national commission to investigate every complaint, pluck out all offending priests, and end the dark night. After some months, the bishops announced that they had determined that over four thousand priests had been accused of molesting ten thousand, mostly young boys, from 1950 until 2002, The head of the bishops conference... proclaimed the scandal 'history.' He can no more prove these figures than I can of my considered estimate of twenty-five thousand priests and one hundred thousand victims in those fifty-two years." (Pg. xii)
He asserts, "The bishops and some Vatican bureaucrats believed that they were beyond the law, that their own religious statutes, called canon law, allowed them to handle all transgressions as church business. This could have let the church glide unnoticed through all storms. Crime by clergy was their business alone. They believed that. They really did. They were going to take their instructions from the centuries. Stall, confer, draw the thickest drapes until the room is dark and then tell you that there is a marvelous sunset outside." (Pg. 17)
He says, "my friend Michael Daly of the Daily News newspaper had told me, 'Jack Maple says kids tell him the [Fr. Bruce] Ritter [founder of Covenant House] is a chicken hawk.' Maple was a transit cop who worked Times Square... The phrase 'chicken hawk' was too disturbing for me to grasp. I let the subject pass by me like paper blowing in the gutter. Or I thought I had. Every time I saw Ritter's name, I had doubt running into suspicion. I better start walking Times Square, I told myself." (Pg. 62)
This book is no "journalistic" summary of the entire scandal, but rather one articulate Catholic's indignant reaction to the controversy. His expressions of outrage will find a number of persons agreeing strongly with him.
January 7, 2022
Dirty and corrupt Catholic Church
A frank and honest telling of the atrocities and coverups by the priests, nuns and the Church itself. Breslin should have received a Pulitzer.
A frank and honest telling of the atrocities and coverups by the priests, nuns and the Church itself. Breslin should have received a Pulitzer.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews