The Priestly Sins

The Priestly Sins is Andrew M. Greeley's 2004 novel, written and published as the U. S. Catholic Church abuse-and-coverup scandal was breaking nationally and notable for treating the institutional dimension of the crisis with the bluntness most other contemporary Catholic-themed fiction would not. The protagonist, Father Herman Hugo Hoffman, is a small-town Illinois priest who discovers that his diocese is covering up sexual abuse and who is silenced for the discovery.

Greeley was a Catholic priest and sociologist of religion as well as a working novelist, and the institutional analysis here is the part that lasts. The plot mechanics are creakier than his Father Blackie Ryan mysteries (the dialogue carries a sermon edge in places, the romantic subplot is signposted) but the central conflict is treated with a moral clarity most other novels of the period did not muster.

Recommended for readers interested in Catholic-themed contemporary fiction (Mary Gordon's Pearl, Alice McDermott's That Night) and for anyone looking for books like The Priestly Sins as a fictional-institutional treatment of the abuse crisis. Three stars, with the moral seriousness earning the rating.