Andrew Greeley is a Chicago-based Catholic priest whose talents are manifold. Sociologist, novelist, professor, columnist, he seems never at a loss for words. In fact, his critics often claim that Father Greeley has never had an unpublished thought.

That snide remark, however, can distract from Greeley’s solid accomplishments. More than a decade ago, long before others caught on, he warned about the scandal of sexual abuse perpetrated by members of the clergy. He foresaw the disastrous consequences of these crimes and of the failure of the Catholic bishops to take action.

Now in a new book entitled Priests:A Calling In Crisis,Greeley writes about the overall situation of American Catholic priests in the years after the shocking revelations. As his title indicates, the author believes that the priesthood continues in crisis. But, relying on survey findings, he reaches some surprising and unconventional results some of which that seem to clash with that view.

In the next-to-last chapter of this short book, he lists a dozen conclusions that summarize the book’s contents. Throughout, Greeley shows himself strongly critical of views that lack sound research behind them.

Contrary to much that appears in the media, Catholic priests are no more immature than other men. In fact, “priests on the average continue to be as mature and capable of intimacy as married laymen.” And, Greeley claims, they are likely to enjoy a higher level of satisfaction in their work and with their lives than do married Protestant clergy.

Further,Greeley brands it a mistake to blame sexual abuse on members of the clergy who are homosexual. Most gay clergy, he says, remain celibate, so calls for barring homosexual men from the seminary are ill-advised. Provocatively, Greeley sees anti-Catholic prejudice at work in blaming celibacy and homosexuality for the scandals.

However, Greeley admits the presence of what he calls a “homosexual subculture” in both seminaries and dioceses. The implications of this he does not spell out.

The author adamantly rejects the view of Catholic priests as largely misfits. On the contrary, they are among the happiest people in the world. They enjoy their work, feel glad they entered this career, and would choose to do it again.

Of those who leave the priesthood, only a relatively small minority do so because they desire to marry. A mere one out of six leaves for this reason, a figure that sharply conflicts with conventional assumptions. If this finding is correct, it would seem to undermine the idea that having a married clergy would remedy current problems.

To summarize Greeley’s basic view of his fellow clergy, “Priests stay in the priesthood and are happy in the ministry because they like being priests.” Most of them are what Greeley calls “religious altruists,” that is, men who find fulfillment serving others for spiritual reasons.

However, the author believes that priests under age 45 may be different from their elders. Some indications suggest they see the priesthood as a way of exercising authority from a secure position. If this surmise holds water, then these newer clergy will presumably have trouble with their colleagues and with laypeople.

Greeley finds that the clergy in general do not accept the Church’s teaching on sexual issues. Largely out o their respect for women and recognizing the freedom of laypeople, Catholic clerics commonly dissent from official orthodoxy in this area.

Most of the clergy support the ordination of men already married and the election of bishops. An astonishing one-half are in favor of ordaining women, despite strongly worded rejections of this position by Rome.

Somewhat surprisingly, given his other findings, Greeley holds that most priests are insensitive to laity and their needs. An indication of this attitude emerges in their widespread ignorance of how dissatisfied laypeople are with the quality of priestly ministry. The clerical culture acts to wall off clergy and laity from one another.

Finally, most priests believe that the clerical abuse scandal is not their problem but rather that of the bishops. They want those bishops who failed to act to resign or even to go to jail. But priests believe that the measures the American Church has taken in response will probably work.

The views expressed in this book strike me as provocative and worth wide discussion. However, I do find a basic conflict between Father Greeley’s recognition of crisis in the priesthood with his belief that priests feel happy and fulfilled.

Richard Griffin