Fr. Andrew Greeley's Dirty Secret?

The Illinois Leader ^ | Matt C. Abbott

[mattcabbott]

Fr. Andrew Greeley continues to chastise the Catholic Church for its handling of the clergy sex abuse scandal. The soft-porn novel-writing priest has always been part of the solution, you see. Not that he doesn't have some valid points. After all, no reasonable Catholic can deny that certain bishops have been, at the very least, grossly negligent in their duties. And this doesn't even take into account the widespread dissent and lack of orthodoxy in the American church.

But, alas, Greeley is a liberal. He's quick to point out the "hypocrisy" of the "right-wing" whenever it makes an assertion, whether in the realm of politics or in the realm of religion. And that, I must say, is most irritating - especially in light of the following:

In Greeley's 1999 non-fiction book "Furthermore! Memories of a Parish Priest," on page 80, he writes:

"...But even in Chicago, the ring of predators about whom I wrote in the paperback edition of 'Confessions' remains untouched. There is no evidence against them because no one has complained about them and none of their fellow priests have denounced them. Those who have been removed are for the most part lone offenders who lacked the skill to cover their tracks. The ring is much more clever. Perhaps they always will be. But should they slip, should they get caught, the previous scandals will seem trivial...."

A footnote states:

"They are a dangerous group. There is reason to believe that they are responsible for at least one murder, and may perhaps have been involved in the murder of the murderer. Am I afraid of them? Not particularly. They know that I have in safekeeping information which would implicate them. I am more of a threat to them dead than alive."

(The murder Greeley is alluding to in the above passage is almost certainly that of Francis E. Pellegrini, who was the organist and choir director at All Saints - St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, located on Chicago's South side. Pellegrini was allegedly in the process of exposing to the archdiocese the activities of the clergy sex/pedophile ring, but was found brutally murdered in his apartment on May 30, 1984. To date, the murder remains officially unsolved.)

The obvious questions: If Greeley is truly interested in justice and the good of the Catholic Church, why has he thus far refused to expose this "dangerous group"? Why is the "information" in "safekeeping" and not with the proper authorities? And what about the newspapers that run Greeley's columns? One would think that they would be aware of his (public) allegation. Yet, the silence from them on the matter is deafening.

As for the Church, the Archdiocese of Chicago has no information to corroborate the allegation "that a ring of priests may have been involved in criminal activity. Nevertheless, when this information was published, the Archdiocese brought it to the attention of the State's Attorney in Cook County." So stated a letter sent to Yours truly, dated July 31, 2001, from John C. O'Malley, director of legal services for the Archdiocese. And, according to Cardinal Francis George, Greeley hasn't provided him with any actual evidence on the matter.

So...is it a case of Greeley's smarmy fiction, or is it a case of his liberal hypocrisy? Or both?

(Matt C. Abbott is the former executive director of the Illinois Right to Life Committee and the former director of public affairs for the Chicago-based Pro-life Action League, respectively. He is also a contributor to "The Wanderer" Catholic newspaper.)

[Loyalist]

PING.

Does Greeley really have the goods on the top brass, or is he just blowing smoke?

[ahadams2]

my bet - and remember my view is from outside Roman Catholicism is that Greeley has long liked to play games to yank the chains of conservative theologians - remember his bit where he did a novel asserting that the archangel Gabriel was female? That being the case, I'd bet that he had heard rumors of the murder described in your article, and being a lefty had undoubtedly run into homosexual clergy who had self-identified as such to him...thus giving him sufficient imaginary material to write what he did...I seriously doubt he ever really considered himself threatened, since none of the homosexuals would have believed for an instant that he would turn them in; and of course he wouldn't.

just my 2 cents worth on that one,

[dsc]

"Does Greeley really have the goods on the top brass, or is he just blowing smoke?"

If you believe, as I do, that liberalism if of and from Satan, then the words "blowing smoke" are particularly apropos.

My experience is that it is impossible to sort the truth from the lies when a liberal speaks without independent corroboration from other sources.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Didn't Malachi Martin's "Windswept House" have essentially the samething set in Chicago - a brutal murder with excruciating details known by Martin that clearly pointed to a real case?

[mattcabbott]

Indeed. Pellegrini's murder was "fictionalized" by Martin in that novel.

[A.A. Cunningham]

The Beginning of The End of The Bernardin Legacy

[mattcabbott]

See also...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28294

And the silence from the "powers that be" is STILL deafening!

[ahadams2]

You wrote "If you believe, as I do, that liberalism if of and from Satan, then the words "blowing smoke" are particularly apropos."

that would be sulfur smoke with a trace of brimstone then?...as far as Greeley goes, I most certainly agree...we've seen too many of his lot over on our side of the aisle!

[RaginCajunTrad]

I try to do my best to ignore Greeley for if I don't I will stay aggrivated. However, I at the same time I try to see what he is up to for there may be mischief on the horizon.

[jobim]

I hadn't realized you were part of this forum, so I take this opportunity, as a 4 year Wanderer subscriber, to publicly applaud you on your outstanding work for the Church, Mr. Abbott.

[Thorondir]

I had the extreme displeasure to attend one of his mAsSes. A certain wacked-out liberal Monsignor here in Tuscodom and Arizomorrah just loves him and brings him in all the time to delight the Druids at OMOS. The idiot, Greeley, had to continually ask the little druid girls around the altar what to do next in the mass. he couldn't even figure out the NO mass! But his sermon was every bit as smooth and professional as it was pornographic, un-Catholic and disgusting. We got about an hour of him regailing us with tales of his lust for Audrey Hepburn. That was it.

I felt unclean in every way by the time I left. God help us!

[TotusTuus]

Does he still teach at the U of A?

[Thorondir]

I don't know, but I would not trust that stinking devil pervert to teach ANYTHING.

[TotusTuus]

From his webpage:

..A native of Chicago, Reverend Andrew M. Greeley, is a priest, distinguished sociologist and best-selling author. He is professor of social sciences at the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona, as well as Research Associate at the national Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. His current sociological research focuses on current issues facing the Catholic Church - including celibacy of priests, ordination of women, religious imagination and sexual behavior of Catholics.

As a Tempean, I'm jealous of you Tucsonians who got him for the UA, rather than us for ASU. Oh darn, I guess them are the breaks... ;-)

[mattcabbott]

Thank you!!

[dangus]

>that would be sulfur smoke with a trace of brimstone then?

Oh, if only it were true, if only it were true...

Sulfur is from God, not Satan. It was known to the ancient Greeks that Sulfur cleansed disease. They called in "Theion." "-on" is a prefix used to denote something which bears something (proton, electron, photon, graviton, automaton, etc.), and "The-" is a prefix meaning "god," so the word may actually be meant to say something bears God.

Thus, the threat of Theon was that exposure to the righteousness of God, which obliterates all evil... The sinner exposed to Theon would experience the horror of his guilt, and thus would either be cleansed of sin, or be destroyed along with it.

[boromeo]

"But should they slip, should they get caught, the previous scandals will seem trivial...."

I'm not a lawyer, but correct me if I'm wrong. If you have evidence related to a felony murder or criminal sexual abuse, and you know that the criminals have not been brought to justice, and, like Greeley, you decide to withhold that evidence, doesn't that make you an accomplice?

[Polycarp]

Hi Matt,

Great article! Is this a secular paper? If so, are you a regular contributer?

I too want to thank you for your work in the Wanderer, and welcome to the Free Republic Catholic Caucus.

God Bless,

Dr. Brian Kopp

[american colleen]

Bump! I just came across this thread and was going to use my ping list - see you have done it before me! Thanks.

I read, "Confessions of a Parish Priest" last year and found it very egotistic. Sad, that because Fr. Greeley came from a very devout Irish Catholic family. < it just came to me that most of the liberal priests are Irish and had the same background... >