Furthermore! Memories of a Parish Priest [Hardcover]

Andrew M. Greeley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1999

Picking up where his acclaimed Confessions of Parish Priest left off, this memoir has something for everyone: whether you're already a fan of his fiction, and want to know more about how he writes his books, or you are interested in an extremely sharp and insightful firsthand look into the Church's turbulent and controversial times in the latter half of this century.

His keen journalistic eye has been closely observing the world around him and his native charm, wit, and insight makes it a pleasure to join this remarkable man as he reflects on some of the major issues that have led him into the volatile world of church politics and the glaring light of media attention. Always on the side of compassion, understanding, and honesty, Father Greeley admits that sometimes he finds himself unable not to speak out.

Introspective, jovial, somber, playful, Father Greeley's charismatic personality shines through in all of its many facets as he examines his life and times. And running through all his observations is the positive undercurrent, familiar to his millions of readers, that God is Love, Understanding, and Forgiveness.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Popular novel writer Andrew Greeley returns to the voice of memoirist in this update of his feisty original autobiography, Confessions of a Parish Priest. Greeley is the first to admit how controversial he is. Religious purists attack his fiction as slanderous and racy. Even more divisive is Greeley's open criticism of the Catholic Church, including his denouncing of other priests for failing to handle the rampant pedophilia problem. Although Greeley is not flip or defensive when confronting his critics, he does make it clear that he is a man with a mission, and he will not be stopped from writing fiction or speaking his truth. In his chapter titled "Pedophile Problems," he brazenly writes, "Nothing has made me feel more contemptuous of my fellow priests--both as individuals and as collectives--than their response to the pedophile crisis.... The bishops in a way are worse.... After blaming the media for the problem, they set up a committee to study the problem, to make a report, and issue vague and feeble guidelines." This is the kind of strong writing one can expect from this highly opinionated (and highly admired) man of words and cloth. Arranged as a collection of essays, fans will find plenty of fresh material in this memoir, including chapters about "Prayers," "Catholic Schools," "The End of the Confident Church," and "Why They Stay--It's the Stories!" --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly

Greeley offers Furthermore! as a companion volume to Confessions of a Parish Priest, the autobiography he published 15 years ago. Greeley styles his latest work as a self-evaluation of his careers as novelist, sociologist and priest. His narrative of the salient events that shaped his character is particularly concerned with the upheavals in American Catholicism from the 1950s to the present. Greeley asserts that the "Confident Church" of the 1950s was basically sound in the fundamentals of its doctrine but lacked the requisite depth and substance to face the social crises of the 1960s and 1970s. He finds the contemporary "Confusing Church" more chaotic but less shallow than the Catholicism of the first half of the century. This "Confusing Church" is characterized by competing authoritarian impulses, including hierarchical traditionalism, and a lay "liberalism" that scorns any judgment but its own. This vivid portrait of late-twentieth-century Catholicism is short on cogent analysis. Greeley lays responsibility for the Church's flaws fully at the doorstep of the Vatican, including lay intransigence and the miserable state of art and architecture in American churches. While claiming objectivity, Greeley seems decidedly uninterested in the stories of Catholics who are faithful to Church teachings. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 303 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312869649
• ISBN-13: 978-0312869649
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,241,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fr. Greeley's best book to date., February 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Furthermore! Memories of a Parish Priest (Hardcover)

Very pleasant reading. This autobiography is devoid of the nonsense usually associated with Fr. Greeley. It presents his academic prowess and lively Irish intellect in their natural perspective. I'm at odds with some of his liberal theology, but have to say that he's a very honest man who obviously loves his priestly vocation. More power to him in his hazardous fight against pedophile priests and religious and the hierarchy that conceals them. Fr. Greeley's courageous efforts to eradicate these vile predators are what turned diocesan authorities and the institutional Church against him.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars With all due respect...?, November 20, 2000

By 

Jennifer M. Macleod "yiddishe supermama" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Furthermore! Memories of a Parish Priest (Hardcover)

On reading this book -- as part of my exploration of modern Catholicism -- I was thankful that it was chock FULL of the "nonsense" I have come to expect from the good Father. Chock full of his insight into the "why" of modern Catholicism. Chock full of his refusal to pander to the status quo just because "we've always done things that way." Chock full of his obvious and joyful love for God, Jesus, and his fellow Catholics around the world...these are the things he has stood for throughout his long and colourful career. I'd have been disappointed if they were absent from this, his exciting and moving memoir.

After finishing this book, my only wish is that this isn't the end of Father Greeley's long career of theological troublemaking. In the traditional Jewish expression, "biz a hundert und tzvantzig yohrn" -- [may he live to] "a hundred and twenty years!"