The Church That Forgot Christ

by Jimmy Breslin

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is a very angry book. It is the story of the pedophilia scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church, seen through the eyes of Pulitzer Prize–winner Breslin. As he did in I Want to Thank My Brain for Remembering Me, the author uses New York City as his backdrop.

Breslin grew up in Queens and has a true affection for the meaning of the Church, but little respect for its hierarchy. He targets two bishops, Thomas Daily—who once responded to accusations by proclaiming, "I am not a policeman. I am a shepherd"—formerly of Brooklyn, and William Murphy, still ensconced on Long Island. Both worked for the disgraced Bernard Cardinal Law in Boston and wantonly transferred pedophiles from parish to parish—without notifying unsuspecting parents—where they continued systematically molesting children. When they came to the New York area, their blatant conduct continued, and Breslin has the grand jury minutes to prove it against Murphy, whom he nicknamed "Mansion Murphy" because of his proclivity toward a luxurious lifestyle. Breslin shows how the Church uses money and intimidation to stifle dissent and uses the story of a convicted pedophile, the appropriately named Rev. Robert Hands, to prove his point. Although Breslin hammers the power structure of the Church from the pope on down, he draws wonderful portraits of dedicated clerics like Father John Powis of St. Barbara's in Brooklyn, who covers all bases for his parishioners from the spiritual to stopping evictions, and Sister Tesa Fitzgerald, who heads Brooklyn's Hour Children program, which helps women coming out of prison. This book will anger people on both sides of the issue. However, it's doubtful they'll be as outraged as Breslin is in this disturbing tome.
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From Booklist

In a book that the Roman Catholic curia will surely condemn, Breslin, a noted columnist and commentator and best-selling author, pulls no punches as he launches a scorching indictment of the contemporary sex-abuse scandals. Making an important distinction between the Roman Catholic Church and the Catholic religion, he offers his own Breslinesque vision of a new Catholic Church. Dismissing the abortion-obsessed pope and bishops as a bad joke, he proposes the establishment of a new Catholic parish in the diocese of Brooklyn, headed by none other than Bishop Jimmy Breslin; after all, as he jibes, he is eminently qualified for the job, since he is not a pedophile. Personalizing the tragedy by introducing a wide array of victims, perpetrators, and ordinary Catholics struggling with their faith, he takes the Church hierarchy and its attendant culture of secrecy and coverup to task. Between the often-scathing lines is a serious proposal for a reawakening of the Catholic social consciousness and a call for a return to a more Christcentered church sans all the elaborate trappings and rituals, which have taken on undue significance in the modern era. Overflowing with legitimate anger, incisive criticism, and defiant challenges, this soulwrenching denunciation should make American Catholics sit up, take notice, and begin debating. Vintage Breslin. Margaret Flanagan.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Jimmy Breslin has established himself as one of America's most distinctively Catholic voices. We have also come to know Breslin as the cocky guy from Queens, New York, who speaks insolently to powerful people and institutions, his words always tinged with a healthy amount of unsentimental outer-borough humor. Now, with a mix of sadness and anger, Breslin turns his sights on the Roman Catholic Church. After a lifetime of attending mass every Sunday, Breslin has severed his ties to the church he once loved, and, in this important book, filled with a fury generated by a sense of betrayal, he explains why.

When the church sex scandals emerged relentlessly in recent years, and when it became apparent that these scandals had been covered up by the church hierarchy, Breslin found it impossible to reconcile his faith with this new reality. Ever the reporter, he visited many victims of molestation by priests and found lives in emotional chaos. He questioned the bishops and found an ossified clergy that has a sense of privilege and entitlement. Thus disillusioned with his church, though not with his faith, he writes about the loss of moral authority yet uses his trademark mordant humor to good effect.

Breslin's righteous anger is put to use. Imagining a renewed church, along with practical solutions such as married priests and female priests, The Church That Forgot Christ also reminds us that Christ wore sandals, not gold vestments and rings, and that ultimately what the Catholic Church needs most is a healthy dose of Christianity. In that sense, Breslin has written a dark book that is full of hope and possibility. It is a book that only Jimmy Breslin could have written.

An infant is instructed on abortion at his baptism

(Excerpt, page 1)

"So I went with my friend Ed Ward to a baptism on a Sunday afternoon on Long Island... (The white-haired Irish priest) poured water on the baby's head and the baby did not cry. This was a powerful kid. The priest finished the baptismal prayers and then said loudly, 'Today, we are not only baptizing this infant and bringing Christ to him, but he is going to bring Christ to the world. Faith without action is unsatisfactory.' The priest now began to speak directly to the baby. 'And you'—he pointed to the baby, whose head now rolled in his white baptismal garments and looked right up at the priest, and with a nod that seemed to say he approved—'you must go out and stand up against abortions in the name of Christ and your church.'

And the baby began to gurgle and roll his head and see who was around.

'You must stand up to these politicians who talk crap about abortions, stand up against this John Kerry who talks crap. He was for abortions and then he was for choice or he isn't for choice, you don't know. He talks crap. We today baptize this child and send him out into the world.'

The baby was being told to go out into the world like a crusader. The average height of a crusader was five foot four, so on this day the infant didn't have far to go before a sword could be thrust into his hand. He would be on his way to do battle with these filthy murderers, these people who support abortions.

At the finish, I heard Ward say to the priest, 'Don't you think it was a little out of context to be criticizing a politician like Kerry and then yelling about abortion? This was a baptism of an infant.'

Oh, no, it was proper,' the priest said. 'We have been ordered that at every liturgical ceremony, we must make a statemtnt against abortion.'

'Even at a baptism?'

'Yes. That is our orders.'"