Synopsis
The lives and fortunes of the Dolan family of Chicago become entwined witth the turbulent world of the modern-day Catholic Church and the controversies confronting it
Reviews
Catholic angst is the subject of this well-conceived but awkwardly written first novel that looks at the conflict between the religion as seen by the Vatican and the more liberal variety preferred by some younger clergy and laity. Casserly (Scripps: The Divided Dynasty) sets the story in Chicago, framing the religious battles as a conflict between two powerful families, the Dolans and the Carmodys. The major plot deals with an old church that Cardinal Brendan Carmody is about to sell off in a land deal to help retire the debts of the archdiocese, much to the consternation of those in the neighborhood who revere both the building and its history. While scrambling to halt the demolition efforts of the heavy-handed cardinal, members of the heroic Dolan clan struggle with other issues of faith. Leo, the old-fashioned family patriarch, sees his family forsaking the traditional Church ways, while daughter Evie struggles with the decision to have an abortion after being "accidentally" impregnated by a relative of the cardinal. In a subplot, Leo's son Bob, soon to be ordained as a priest, encounters a crisis of conscience over his vows after being raped by a fellow seminarian. Casserly clearly knows his subject, and he presents issues and characters is a powerful, authoritative fashion that stylistically often recalls Michener. But his writing is hardly seamless, and the failure of the assorted subplots effectively to converge or come to life makes the novel read like a laundry-list presentation of "big" Catholic issues. 30,000 first printing.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Watch out Andrew Greeley, for Casserly is raiding your turf. He takes on the American Catholic Church in Chicago during the last decade of the twentieth century, and he pulls no punches. At the center of a large Irish family is 34-year-old psychiatrist Michael Dolan, son of a detective sergeant in the Chicago police department. Michael considers the pope to be as infallible as the umpire at Comiskey Park. Not surprisingly, once the favorite of Cardinal Carmody, he now opposes him by supporting a young priest who is on a hunger strike to pressure the cardinal into changing his mind about razing an old parish church. Michael finds out that his young brother, Bob, a seminarian, has been raped by another seminarian, but Bob refuses to indulge the identity of the young man. Then Bob confesses to Michael that he's gay. With its large cast of characters, this entertaining novel deals with the Catholic Church in crisis in vigorous and sympathetic terms. Theresa Ducato
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