Customer Reviews

The Church That Forgot Christ

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

This is an angry book that will make you uncomfortable. Read it anyway. Read it and learn the truth about what's going on in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Think about the victims of clergy abuse. Think about their abusers, who have gotten a free pass from the likes of Mansion Murphy and others. Think about the hundreds of thousands of parishioner dollars that have gone into the renovation of Murphy's Mansion--his wine cellar, his kitchen, his crystal, his furniture. Think about the six elderly religious who were evicted to make way for him. And then think about what you should be doing to get him out of Rockville Centre.

You don't have to agree with all of Breslin's views--for instance, he is pro-abortion. And the book is written like a longer version of a rambling Breslin column; it's full of his memories of family and friends, and the memories are sometimes painful, but they are brutally honest. If you're from Long Island or NYC, you will recognize some of the names and places. After reading this book, you will be angry, too--and you should be.

Mr Breslin's book is filled with searing, scorching startling facts. He reveals what happens when power, control, money, acquisition of properties, distorted dogma, meaningless rules, rituals and ceremonies supercede the spiritual nurturing and well-being of faithful trusting souls. Page after page documents abuse. It is a sad commentary, but well worth reading.

"The Church That Forgot Christ" is a sad book. Jimmy Breslin, prodded by friends and colleagues to investigate the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, takes up the cross and investigates abuse situations that are brought to his attention. With each new finding, Breslin's tone becomes angrier and angrier. His anger drips from each page.

Breslin goes into depth on how the priests gained the confidence of their victims and their families. He also provides details on how these priests were "treated" by higher level clergy once their activities became known. Breslin clearly shows there was a conspiracy in avoiding the truth.

Breslin found that the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic Clergy (he also includes the story of a horny nun) was not just a crime of individual predators but also a crime of the Catholic hierarchy. Breslin implicates Cardinals, Bishops, and Monsignors by their avoidance of dealing with these situations in an appropriate and timely manner...hence "THE CHURCH" that forgot Christ.

As a contrast to the wayward Church, Breslin weaves the story of a Brooklyn priest, Fr. John Powis, throughout the book. Powis, who stays the priestly course, takes his vows seriously and faithfully does Christ's work. His life and work shows a shepherd responsibly protecting and caring for the flock entrusted to his care.

These predators and those who protected them represent the failure of clericalism. As Rev. Thomas Doyle, canon lawyer at the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., wrote "The delusion is that the clergy are above the rest, deserving unquestioned privilege and stature, the keepers of our salvation, the guarantors of favor with the Lord. But the deadliest symptom is the unbridled addiction to power."

Catholics will be torn by what Breslin has uncovered. Breslin's book may serve as another wake up call to the laity. Transparency by the hierarchy and involvement of responsible laity is desperately needed. As Gary Wills wrote in "Why I am Catholic" - throughout Church history, it was not the hierarchy that saved the church in tough times, but some unknown lay person or priest who rose up to save the church. Who will it be this time?

I didn't enjoy reading this book, but I'm glad I read it. It was difficult to follow at times which I think is okay here because it seemed like Breslin was trying to make sense of his loss and anger. In some ways it made the read more real...instead of something where all the heart had been edited out of the piece.

I kept thinking as I read that I should just stop reading. It really is a depressing portrait of not only the Catholic church but also our society. Some readers may walk away feeling like it's primarily a Catholic church issue, but it's not. For Breslin, that is how he experienced it because the Catholic church was his church family. For others of us, it's about our church and our society that hasn't put forth any real effort to protect its children.

I'm glad Breslin told his story. It needs to be told again and again until people start to listen and act. No, a church held in the home, as he mentions, is not the solution. But if it is led by him and he refuses to keep his loud NY mouth shut about child abusers, then I'd feel at least a little safer about taking my own children there.

Jimmy Breslin provides a magnificent indictment of the evils perpetrated in the name of God on His/Her most innocent and vulnerable children by churchmen more enamored with earthly power and gold than heavenly treasures. Too bad that his mile-a-minute style may put off some readers who aren't used to it. This book deserves a wide readership.

Ive always found Jimmy Breslin to be an amazing writer, but in this work of literature he made it crystal clear that the churches sexual abuse stories were not an urban myth. The real life accounts you will hear in this book are repulsive, and shocking. He explains it to you in such a way that it hits you right in the stomach. I personally know many of the people he talks about, and trust me when i say this, everything he says is the truth.

I kept waiting for somebody--preferably a Catholic--to make sense of the pedophile scandal within the Church, and here at last is that book. This book burns with all rage, bitterness and feeling of betrayal that the daily newspaper headlines never captured. It's like the autobiography of a Catholic during a very disgusting time in the life of the church. Leave it to Breslin to tell it like it is--the powerful princes of the church are the ones who abandoned Christ and what He taught and stood for, and took advantage of the people. It's practically Biblical, the stories he tells are so unforgettable. This is a must-read.

This is an excellent book. Mr. Breslin will be accused of many things for having the courage to expose the truth. As Bonhoeffer reminds us, this is the cost of discipleship. It is a book that had to be written. All of Queens should be reading it. Slante.

The priest-pedophile scandal, whose exposure just celebrated its 5th birthday, is an issue that many in the Catholic hierarchy would rather forget. Let's put it behind us, they seem to say, and get back to yelling about abortion and gay marriage.

But writer Jimmy Breslin will not let the cardinal and bishops off the hook so easily. His book is a rambling -- but not incoherent -- narrative of his travels among the Church's walking wounded. Most striking is his ability to recall the time when the Church was an all-enveloping presence that gave shape and purpose to entire communities. His tour of his neighborhoods, blighted and without Church presence, severs as a yardstick of how much has been lost. His reminiscences of the days when his aunt could rely on the rosary to keep her loved ones safe is poignant. Enduring the absence of one's husband for 5 years during WWII is not a feat for the weak.

But that world is gone. Breslin rages at the pedophiles but also at the bishops and cardinals who allowed them to float from parish to parish, leaving a wake of damaged lives, drug abuse and suicide. Meanwhile, bishops happily evict elderly nuns from the convents, converting them into multi-million dollar mansions for themselves. And they cry "Abortion! Abortion! Abortion!" to distract the faithful from their autocratic and wasteful ways.

Breslin, a self-evident devout Catholic, is not always right, but he is always real. He is upset that the Church got rid of the rule against eating meat on Friday, less because of the rule than at the arrogance of priests who can just change the rules and expect everyone to follow along. His real target is the arrogance and spiritual destitution of the many who rule the Church, whose miserliness to the Church's people is highlighted by a few of the institution's real heros. That a bona fide Roman Catholic like Breslin could contemplate a Church that a) does not need priests to celebrate Mass, b) could ordain (and not just find personal pleasure with) women and c) should change its teachings about homosexuality and contraception, is stunning.

"The Church That Forgot Christ" is not a detailed, organized account of the Church's recent scandals. Neither does it offer a solution for the Church's many ills. What it does, and expertly, is to express the anguish of ordinary Catholics who are sick and tired of being pushed around by men who are interested only in themselves, and whose egoism has expressed itself in insularity, sexual predation, intellectual dishonesty and an absence of love.

I have been a reader of Jimmy Breslin for as long as I can remember. There has always been an angry edge to his writting (he hates dogs).

His anger is not hidden in this book; in fact, it gets in the way of the important story.

If you are Catholic and can deal with Jimmy's emotional outburst you should or should I say must read this book.

The clergy will be forced to hand over the church to the laity in the future but by that time it will be financially and morally bankrupt. When this happens you can't say that Jimmy Breslin didn't warn you.