Charlie’s Angels’ CatholicismnAndrew M. Greeley: The CardinalnSins; Warner Books; New York.nby Philip F. LawlernxVbout a year ago, with their bestsellingnnovel The Spike, Arnaud denBorchgrave and Robert Moss added annunhealthy new genre to the Americannliterary scene: the ideological thriller.nWithin weeks of the book’s publication,nMoss and de Borchgrave had becomensteady performers on the talk-show circuit,nbringing their political messagento a new and broader audience. Inevitably,ndozens of otherwise sober politicalnessayists rushed to follow the samenroute, producing pulp novels withntransparent ideological messages. Saynwhat you will about The Spike itselfn(for two contrasting views, see Chroniclesnof Culture, Sept ./Oct. 1980); itsnepigones have done for the Americannnovel what the medfly did for Californianagriculture. Time and again a competentnnonfiction writer has revealed himselfnas a pitiful novelist, wrapping his ideologicalnfantasies in a flimsy fictionalncombination of lurid plot, stilted dialogue,nand (always) lots of sex. AndrewnGreeley’s first novel. The Cardinal Sins,nis just such a disaster.nAndrew Greeley is of course FathernAndrew Greeley, a Catholic priest. Thendust-cover photograph shows him in anRoman collar, insisting, “It is a parishnpriest 1 set out to be, and it is the worknof the parish ministry that brings menthe greatest happiness.” Yet he is not anparish priest; Who’s Who lists him as ansociologist and educator. And his novelnis little more than a burlesque of parishnlife and an attack on the Roman Catholicnhierarchy.nIn academic life Father Greeley is anpollster, so he should be accustomed tonthe task of creating fictional identities.nMr. Lawler is managing editor o/PolicynReview.nAnd he insists in an Author’s Notenthat the book is not autobiographical.nYet the main character—the narratorbearsna striking resemblance to someonenwe know. He is an Irish-American priestnfrom Chicago who rises to prominencenas a social scientist, while simultaneouslynrunning afoul of his bishop’s wrath.nAt the book’s end this central figure,nKevin Brennan, is a dissident priestnchallenging the ‘Vatican hierarchy fromnhis own secular power base. FathernGreeley’s own career matches every onenof those particulars. So when the narratornof The Cardinal Sins depicts hisnpastor as an intolerant fool, his bishopnas a lecherous drunk and the PapalnDelegate as a snobbish time-server,nthe reader inevitably infers AndrewnGreeley’s contempt for his superiors.nThat contempt is made explicit even beforenthe novel itself begins. In an introductoryn”Note About the CardinalnSins,” Father Greeley makes the sardonicnjibe: “The cardinal sins havennothing to do, of course, with the membersnof the Sacred College, who, as wenall know, commit hardly any sins.”nFrom that point on, the novel is anhammer-and-tongs attack on Rome.nThe ecclesiastical characters are venalnand petty, plotting every move to fulfillntheir own private ambitions. The honorablencharacters are the pragmatic Chicago-stylenpolitical horse-traders, andnthe religious characters are portrayednsympathetically only when they emulatenthat style. If the author loves parish work,nhis characters give no explanation fornthat enthusiasm. Life in the seminary isnan unrelieved burden; life as a parishnpriest is a bourgeois charade. The priestsnin this account can only gain satisfactionnby stepping out into the secular world.nOr, of course, by attacking the ‘Vatican.nX he plot of this novel is a masterpiecenof convoluted implausibility. Thenauthor slaps together a congeries of sexnand blackmail, terrorism and a papalnnnelection. The priest-hero, convenientlynenough, practices karate and pistolrynas hobbies; he casually encounters anCIA operative who, without asking anynquestions, furnishes deadly gadgetrynin the best James Bond tradition; onedimensionalncharacters appear and disappearnwhenever the plot developmentnrequires. In the climax. Father Brennanndisarms a pair of right-wing fanatics innhand-to-hand midnight combat on an islandnoff the coast of Italy, saving hisnfemale consort from a ritual rape. As ifnthat were not enough to torture thenreader’s credulity. Father Greeley concoctsnan even more preposterous denouement:nthe brutal murder of a sadomasochisticnjournalist, the assassinationnof an American painter, the frustrationnof a scheming homosexual Cardinal,nand the elevation of Karol Wojtylanto the papacy.nHow does this all come to pass.’ Itnwould be absurd to trace the wholensurreal range of action. (Just as it wasnabsurd to invent it.) Suffice it to saynthat the whole international intriguengrows out of the relationship betweenntwo Chicago teen-agers. These two characters,nKevin Brennan and Patrick Donahue,neach choose a career in the priesthood.nOne is a quiet, inconspicuousnpriest who adheres to his vow of celibacyn(although not to his pledge ofnobedience). The other is an ambitious,nmanipulative politico with uncontrollablensexual passions who carries on anlong-standing love affair with his highschoolnsweetheart. Naturally, given thenauthor’s animus against the Church, itnis the latter priest who rises quicklynthrough the hierarchy to become a powerfulnCardinal. Father Greeley’s messagenis clear. The Church, as he portrays it,nwill condone cruelty, larceny, sexualnindulgence and drunkenness, but notnindependent thought.nAlthough Father Greeley mercifullynspares the reader from any explicit bedroomnscenes, the entire book is preoccu-n^ ^ ^ H ^ ^ H I ^ S Onovcmbcr/Dcccmbcr 1981n