Andrew M. Greeley (February 5, 1928 to May 29, 2013) was a progressive Catholic priest and sociologist. He was of Irish decent and resided in Chicago. He was a sports nut who cheered for the Chicago Bears, the Chicago Bulls, and the Chicago Cubs and sometimes the Chicago White Sox. Father Greeley was often at loggerheads with the Catholic hierarchy. He taught at the University of Phoenix and the University of Chicago. His writings spanned mysteries, fantasy, sociology, and serious criticism of the Catholic Church. He was one of the earliest critics of the Church and its handling of the child abuse scandals. He used his vast income from his books to support many different charities. In November 2008 as he was getting out of a taxi his clothes got caught in the door and he was thrown to the ground suffering from a traumatic brain injury. He never really recovered and passed away last year.
I knew Father Greeley briefly. I first encountered him as a sociologist when I wrote and asked permission to extensively quote him in a forum that I was in. He gave me immediate permission. He had a love of life, a love of sports, an Irish gift for words, a love of his Church, a love of being a priest, and a love of the Irish. He never held back criticism of the Church and some of its leaders. He felt a sweep of the Cardinals and Bishops was in order bringing in more modern and liberal ideas.
It was his love of the Irish that permeates all of his novels. He knew the history of Ireland and of the Irish in America. During a particularly spirited discussion in one of my forums about nationality I wrote Father Greeley and asked what do you call someone who is half Irish, one eighth Scottish, one eighth English, one eighth Cherokee, and one eighth Pennsylvania Dutch speaking about myself of course. I got a one word answer from him that still makes me smile when I think about it. He answered, "Irish."
Many were critical of his mysteries since he had no problem with language and sex being part of the story. My mother wouldn't read them because there was too much sex. He considered sex to be a healthy part of the human relations and an integral part of marriage. In real life he chose to stay true to his vow of chastity.
One of Father Greeley's most famous characters is Bishop Blackwood (Blackie) Ryan.
Happy Are The Oppressed is part of a series that takes the title from the beatitudes. The sins of the past continue to haunt the people of the present. During the Civil War a curse was put on the wealthy Cardin family when they feed spoiled meat to Confederate POWs causing wide spread death. In a locked room mystery from a hundred years ago the wife of Peter Paul Cardin was found brutally murdered. Each and every generation has had an untimely and unexplained death to mourn. Back in the present Chantal the wife of Peter Paul Cardin V is afraid that she will be the next victim of the curse.
Blackie has more than one mystery to solve. In addition to trying to find out who wants to kill Chantal he also needs to solve the mystery of 100 years ago. Greeley has made great use of the telling of mysteries from the past entwining them with mysteries from the present.
As in most of his Bishop Blackie mysteries the city of Chicago and the Irish American community play a large part in the story. As the titles of these novels suggest this is also a gentle reminder that wealth for wealth's sake is not the way to live and Blackie also tried to steer a proud and rich family towards benefiting their fellow man so that the sins of the father's no longer are the sins of the son's.
The Bishop at Sea takes Bishop Blackie out of his familiar Chicago and places him on an aircraft carrier. Several of the crew have disappeared and one seems to have come back as a spirit. The Captain happens to be a nephew of Cardinal Sean Cronin of Chicago who of course sends his little Bishop to investigate.
The story explores the problems that the most hide bound militarists have with the services being opened to women. Blackie discovers a great deal of hostility by some of the men towards their female counterparts.
According to friends who were in the Navy this book really captures how it is to live in a ship isolated at sea. Greeley had researched aircraft carriers before writing the book and it shows.
One of the joys of the Bishop Blackie books is the fact that the character is presented in a way that people encountering him go away with an initial impression of a little bemused and confused harmless priest. Those of us who have read many of the books know better and half the fun is watching him clear up mysteries that the characters in the book think he can't solve.
Irish Gold is probably my favorite Andrew Greeley book. This was the first in the series of Nuala Anne McGrail books. Nuala Anne is an Irish folksinger and possess the Irish sixth sense. The story takes place in Dublin where Dermot Coyne is trying to find out why his grandparents fled the island during the Civil War there. His innocent inquiries however upset the authorities and the IRA. Dermot finds himself with enemies on all sides. He gets help from Nuala Anne with whom he falls hopelessly in love.
As he will in the subsequent stories of this series, Greeley takes us back and forth between two stories the one in the present with Nuala Anne and Dermot and one in the times of the Troubles in Ireland and Irish leader Michael Collins. The life, times, and death of Michael Collins is still debated to this day. Greeley comes up with his own theory on Collin's death.
Having never had the chance to visit Ireland these books are a fascinating glimpse of a land where my ancestors came from. Since I have a keen love of history the secondary story was intriguing. Subsequent stories in the series continues to show the history of Ireland and the Irish immigrants here in the Untied States.
Angel Light is based on the book of Tobias in the Old Testament. Of course the Old Testament never read like this. The book is in the modern times where angels are computer hackers looking for someone to protect.
Patrick Tobin declares, "I do not want ten million dollars. I do not want to visit Ireland. I do not want to end a Tobin family feud. And, above all, I do not want to court my eighth cousin, once removed." Of course that doesn't mean that he is going to get his way. It would be a real short book if it were left like that.
Toby of course does go out to find the troubled Sara Anne Elizabeth Tobin in Ireland. Helped along the way by Raphaella whose on line chats with Toby are funny, enigmatic, encouraging, and just plain fun.
This series of "angel" books are more romantic and spiritual novels than mysteries but there is a sweetness about them that I find fascinating. Where his other books depend a lot on his views as a sociologist these books go back to his theologist roots.
Summer at the Lake is a stand alone novel that doesn't feature Greeley's normal characters. The book also is told from three different points of view and goes between the 1940s to the 1970s. Leo Kelly and Patrick "Packy" Keenan are both in love with Jane Devlin when in 1948 an auto accident kills two of their friends and changes their lives forever. Reunited at the lake of their childhood in 1978 the trio still have questions about the accident and their feelings for each other.
The book is a combination of love story, mystery, and sociology. The accident had been ruthlessly suppressed by the rich families especially the family of driver Phil Clare who was drunk at the time of the accident. The book explores the influence that the rich have over justice and their distain of people "not like us." Written in 1997 the ideas and political machinations are as relevant now as it was then.
The accident from the past and the attempts on the life of Leo Kelly in the present form an intriguing mystery. Who wants to kill this Korean war veteran? Is it related to his questions about that accident in the past? Are the ghosts of the dead mixed with participants from the past who have disappeared?
The book is an intriguing read and I was thoroughly caught up in it.
This then is a taste of the late Father Andrew M. Greeley. He was such a prolific writer that it is impossible to fully review all his books. It has been said that he had 250,000 core readers who bought every book he ever wrote. I have a good number of them and count myself as a fan. As a writer and as a person he will be missed.
Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule:
Fri Dec 05, 2014 at 12:39 PM PT: Check out this diary for a wonderful email from Father Greeley's niece.
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