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The Priest
The Priest
531 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1973
1 person is currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Ralph McInerny
173 books81 followersRalph Matthew McInerny was an American Catholic religious scholar and fiction writer, including mysteries and science fiction. Some of his fiction has appeared under the pseudonyms of Harry Austin, Matthew FitzRalph, Ernan Mackey, Edward Mackin, and Monica Quill. As a mystery writer he is best known as the creator of Father Dowling. He was Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center, and Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame until his retirement in June 2009. He died of esophageal cancer on January 29, 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 21, 2014
When the church dropped a bomb on itself, a review of Ralph Mcinerny’s The Priest.
In The Priest, Ralph McInery’s novel of a mid-size, mid-American Catholic diocese in the turbulent summer of 1968, one elderly priest laments to another, in an incredulous way:
“They’ve turned us around so we’re facing the congregation,” to which, a younger more liberal priest might have added, sarcastically, “Yeh, and we’re speaking in a language they can understand.”
Another old priest laments how the number of diocesan seminarians has dipped below one hundred.
How many seminarians would they have today, if the diocese were real? In the parish where the hero of our story is assigned, upon returning from years studying in Rome, not a very large parish, there are three priests, one church. Today, in many parts of America, the ratio has been reversed, with one priest for three churches, or more than three. The priests’ Sunday mornings are spent like nineteenth-century circuit-riding judges except our priests aren’t on horseback.
How did it happen? When did it happen? It didn’t all start in 1968 but 68 certainly accelerated the process.
1968 was a turbulent year, to be sure, and no less turbulent within the church than without. The church was awaiting the pope’s decision regarding birth control and with the Vietnam War and the riots, there’s plenty else going on and we get it all here, with a myriad of priests all representing different takes on just what it means to be a priest. So many priests, it takes nearly a hundred pages for the one priest, Father Frank Ascue, to emerge as the priest of the title.
Ascue is a kind of bridge between the ancient and the modern, between the old guard, men ordained when the church was unchanged and seemed unchangeable and the impatient new guard, hungry for change.
Father Frank has a lot to deal with ─ nuns and priests falling in love, seminarians impregnating girls, priests getting arrested for protesting the Vietnam War, priests speaking out against celibacy, right-wing Catholic iconoclasts cheating on their wives, abortion ─ is this Fort Elbow, Ohio, or is it Peyton Place?
There was an expectation that summer ─ the church’s updated position on birth control was about to be announced and it was going to be an easing of the stricture. Except it wasn’t. It was a reaffirmation of the old. That’s the bombshell. In the pope’s Humanae Vitae, sex has one purpose only, procreation. Therefore, contraception is forbidden because it’s a deliberate thwarting of the will of God. The pleasure of intercourse is a bone thrown to us by God. As long as we’re only having sex to make children, it’s OK to enjoy it. Curiously, the rhythm method is not forbidden. Why not, one might ask. Isn’t it a thwarting of God’s will?
It all understandably roils the diocese, pleasing some, outraging others and perhaps most troubling is what underlies the decision and that sends so many people, priests and nuns and lay persons, fleeing the church and compels many of those who stay to have to compromise their principles. It was the realization the church was too rigid, too wedded to tradition to adapt and change.
Some of the traditionalists, in particular Monsignor Entweder, are smug in their triumph, not realizing the negative effect it will have on the church.
The results can be seen today with Catholic having become more exclusive than catholic:
Those aged priests with so much to do on Sunday mornings, the closing schools and dying parishes, the demise of Confession, the lapsed Catholics, and what about the 90 percent of Catholic women on birth control or on it once or soon to be on it, marching up to the rail at Communion time?
Don’t they know it’s a mortal sin? Or is it? Despite its inflexible stand on principle, it’s hubris with regard to its stand, the church equivocates on the question whether or not artificial birth control is a mortal sin. Some say yes, absolutely, some say no sin can be mortal unless the person has full knowledge of its grievousness. How’s that for dancing on the head of a pin? Any of those gals heading up to Communion without knowing they’re committing the big one, aren’t. The less they think about it, or know about it, the greater the ignorance, the more likely they are to stay clear of perdition.
This book doesn’t shy away from any of the issues. It attacks them straight-on, offering a kind of no-holds-barred look at the complications of 1960s parish life. The characters aren’t particularly well drawn, there’s not much sympathy to be had and it’s difficult at times to keep straight who’s who but it was a time of ferment in the church and this book presents it as well as any book, fiction or non-fiction.
In The Priest, Ralph McInery’s novel of a mid-size, mid-American Catholic diocese in the turbulent summer of 1968, one elderly priest laments to another, in an incredulous way:
“They’ve turned us around so we’re facing the congregation,” to which, a younger more liberal priest might have added, sarcastically, “Yeh, and we’re speaking in a language they can understand.”
Another old priest laments how the number of diocesan seminarians has dipped below one hundred.
How many seminarians would they have today, if the diocese were real? In the parish where the hero of our story is assigned, upon returning from years studying in Rome, not a very large parish, there are three priests, one church. Today, in many parts of America, the ratio has been reversed, with one priest for three churches, or more than three. The priests’ Sunday mornings are spent like nineteenth-century circuit-riding judges except our priests aren’t on horseback.
How did it happen? When did it happen? It didn’t all start in 1968 but 68 certainly accelerated the process.
1968 was a turbulent year, to be sure, and no less turbulent within the church than without. The church was awaiting the pope’s decision regarding birth control and with the Vietnam War and the riots, there’s plenty else going on and we get it all here, with a myriad of priests all representing different takes on just what it means to be a priest. So many priests, it takes nearly a hundred pages for the one priest, Father Frank Ascue, to emerge as the priest of the title.
Ascue is a kind of bridge between the ancient and the modern, between the old guard, men ordained when the church was unchanged and seemed unchangeable and the impatient new guard, hungry for change.
Father Frank has a lot to deal with ─ nuns and priests falling in love, seminarians impregnating girls, priests getting arrested for protesting the Vietnam War, priests speaking out against celibacy, right-wing Catholic iconoclasts cheating on their wives, abortion ─ is this Fort Elbow, Ohio, or is it Peyton Place?
There was an expectation that summer ─ the church’s updated position on birth control was about to be announced and it was going to be an easing of the stricture. Except it wasn’t. It was a reaffirmation of the old. That’s the bombshell. In the pope’s Humanae Vitae, sex has one purpose only, procreation. Therefore, contraception is forbidden because it’s a deliberate thwarting of the will of God. The pleasure of intercourse is a bone thrown to us by God. As long as we’re only having sex to make children, it’s OK to enjoy it. Curiously, the rhythm method is not forbidden. Why not, one might ask. Isn’t it a thwarting of God’s will?
It all understandably roils the diocese, pleasing some, outraging others and perhaps most troubling is what underlies the decision and that sends so many people, priests and nuns and lay persons, fleeing the church and compels many of those who stay to have to compromise their principles. It was the realization the church was too rigid, too wedded to tradition to adapt and change.
Some of the traditionalists, in particular Monsignor Entweder, are smug in their triumph, not realizing the negative effect it will have on the church.
The results can be seen today with Catholic having become more exclusive than catholic:
Those aged priests with so much to do on Sunday mornings, the closing schools and dying parishes, the demise of Confession, the lapsed Catholics, and what about the 90 percent of Catholic women on birth control or on it once or soon to be on it, marching up to the rail at Communion time?
Don’t they know it’s a mortal sin? Or is it? Despite its inflexible stand on principle, it’s hubris with regard to its stand, the church equivocates on the question whether or not artificial birth control is a mortal sin. Some say yes, absolutely, some say no sin can be mortal unless the person has full knowledge of its grievousness. How’s that for dancing on the head of a pin? Any of those gals heading up to Communion without knowing they’re committing the big one, aren’t. The less they think about it, or know about it, the greater the ignorance, the more likely they are to stay clear of perdition.
This book doesn’t shy away from any of the issues. It attacks them straight-on, offering a kind of no-holds-barred look at the complications of 1960s parish life. The characters aren’t particularly well drawn, there’s not much sympathy to be had and it’s difficult at times to keep straight who’s who but it was a time of ferment in the church and this book presents it as well as any book, fiction or non-fiction.
September 8, 2024
"The Priest" came out in 1973 written about a young priest who had just entered the priesthood in the late 60s. There was hope that the Church would soon allow priests to marry and change their stand on birth control. Many priests and nuns were leaving their orders and few were entering. It looked like the Church would have to change to survive.
Now 40 years after the book was written the Church is even more conservative, the Latin mass is making a comeback, and the hopes of young Father Ascue in the book would never come to reality.
A very interesting book. I imagine it might have been very scandalous when it came out and even reads a little soap opera-ish at times but because of when it was written, a novel at the end of the sixties about being a priest, there is a time capsule quality to it. I would recommend it to all the lapse Catholics out there.
Now 40 years after the book was written the Church is even more conservative, the Latin mass is making a comeback, and the hopes of young Father Ascue in the book would never come to reality.
A very interesting book. I imagine it might have been very scandalous when it came out and even reads a little soap opera-ish at times but because of when it was written, a novel at the end of the sixties about being a priest, there is a time capsule quality to it. I would recommend it to all the lapse Catholics out there.
June 1, 2020
I love Ralph McInerney's books! This one was surprisingly easy to read (after I made a list of characters- something I have to do with his books!). I purchased it from the Goodwill a long while ago and was intimidated by the 500 pages!
This book explores several elements. First, the changes that the Church went through after Vatican II. Next it describes the "evolution" of a priest and the struggles that go along with the lifestyle. Finally this book shows the vastness of the personalities of the people who make up the Catholic church.
Vatican II: I joined the church in 2008 so I'm not entirely familiar with all that happened after Vatican II but I do know that much of it is still a sore spot for many Catholics today. I also know that many people are still looking for progression that may never happen but that they thought Vatican II was pointing to- married priests, birth control, e.t.c. (side note: I do see that they are looking into a female deaconate! ). It was funny to read this book and see that these are things that have been hot topics for such a long time!
Evolution of a Priest: I enjoyed this the most. I loved seeing this fresh priest come in and completely screw up. He went from being a fresh faced "saint" to learning that he was one wrong decision away from being laicised. In the end, he learned a very important life lesson.
Personalities: When I became a Catholic, I thought that everyone pretty much believed the same thing and that everyone agreed with the Pope. I thought that the people followed the teachings of the Church because they thought that it was right and good.... I learned that the Catholic Church has as many different opinions and ideas within its Body (the people) as any other religion or culture. This book is a perfect example. You have Bishops who disagree with each other, priests who misunderstand the teachings of the Church, and faithful from all walks of life who disagree with the Pope.
Although this book is fiction, it was a great learning experience for me and I think it would be for anyone who wants to explore the good, bad, and the ugly of the Catholic Church. Warning: this book only made me love it MORE!
This book explores several elements. First, the changes that the Church went through after Vatican II. Next it describes the "evolution" of a priest and the struggles that go along with the lifestyle. Finally this book shows the vastness of the personalities of the people who make up the Catholic church.
Vatican II: I joined the church in 2008 so I'm not entirely familiar with all that happened after Vatican II but I do know that much of it is still a sore spot for many Catholics today. I also know that many people are still looking for progression that may never happen but that they thought Vatican II was pointing to- married priests, birth control, e.t.c. (side note: I do see that they are looking into a female deaconate! ). It was funny to read this book and see that these are things that have been hot topics for such a long time!
Evolution of a Priest: I enjoyed this the most. I loved seeing this fresh priest come in and completely screw up. He went from being a fresh faced "saint" to learning that he was one wrong decision away from being laicised. In the end, he learned a very important life lesson.
Personalities: When I became a Catholic, I thought that everyone pretty much believed the same thing and that everyone agreed with the Pope. I thought that the people followed the teachings of the Church because they thought that it was right and good.... I learned that the Catholic Church has as many different opinions and ideas within its Body (the people) as any other religion or culture. This book is a perfect example. You have Bishops who disagree with each other, priests who misunderstand the teachings of the Church, and faithful from all walks of life who disagree with the Pope.
Although this book is fiction, it was a great learning experience for me and I think it would be for anyone who wants to explore the good, bad, and the ugly of the Catholic Church. Warning: this book only made me love it MORE!
January 9, 2025
Interesting dramatic critique of changes in the Church due to Vatican II a few years prior to writing. I enjoyed seeing the back and forth between some of the more liberal and "radical" views of some vs the more conservative views in opposition of the changes made at Vatican II.
There were interesting characters however I wish their relationships and their own stories were fleshed out more. Lots of characters to keep track of, but the slow pace of McInerny's writing made it a bit of a chore to follow along. The intertwining relationships between all of these characters did keep it interesting though.
There were interesting characters however I wish their relationships and their own stories were fleshed out more. Lots of characters to keep track of, but the slow pace of McInerny's writing made it a bit of a chore to follow along. The intertwining relationships between all of these characters did keep it interesting though.
July 21, 2025
I read this book 50 years ago; it stands the test of time. Excellent writing, good character development, and accurate subject matter. Wow, we thought the church was going through such hard times in 1968, but compared to the problems it has now, those were the good old days.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews