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SIGNED Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. Hardcover with dust jacket. Stated First Edition. 1973 1st printing (no later printings indicated). SIGNED by author on ffeb. Signed by previous owner on Title page.
In The Priest, Ralph McInery?s novel of a mid-size, mid-American Catholic diocese in the turbulent summer of 1968, one elderly priest laments to another, in an incredulous way:
?They?ve turned us around so we?re facing the congregation,? to which, a younger more liberal priest might have added, sarcastically, ?Yeh, and we?re speaking in a language they can understand.?
Another old priest laments how the number of diocesan seminarians has dipped below one hundred.
How many seminarians would they have today, if the diocese were real? In the parish where the hero of our story is assigned, upon returning from years studying in Rome, not a very large parish, there are three priests, one church. Today, in many parts of America, the ratio has been reversed, with one priest for three churches, or more than three. The priests? Sunday mornings are spent like nineteenth-century circuit-riding judges except our priests aren?t on horseback.
This book doesn?t shy away from any of the issues. It attacks them straight-on, offering a kind of no-holds-barred look at the complications of 1960s parish life. The characters aren?t particularly well drawn, there?s not much sympathy to be had and it?s difficult at times to keep straight who?s who but it was a time of ferment in the church and this book presents it as well as any book, fiction or non-fiction.
Ralph Matthew McInerny was an American Catholic religious scholar and fiction writer, including mysteries and science fiction. Some of his fiction has appeared under the pseudonyms of Harry Austin, Matthew FitzRalph, Ernan Mackey, Edward Mackin, and Monica Quill. As a mystery writer he is best known as the creator of Father Dowling. He was Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center, and Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame until his retirement in June 2009. He died of esophageal cancer on January 29, 2010.
Bookseller Inventory # 021420242.
Seller Inventory # BD1-006-00127
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