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Title: Clerical Error: A True Story by Robert Blair Kaiser ISBN: 0-8264-1522-9 Publisher: Continuum Pub Group Pub. Date: September, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Potential Catholic Priest hesitates BIGTIME!
Comment: I read this book because I wanted more insight into the
Jesuits and the Roman Catholic Priesthood before I consider
joining either. YIKES!!!
4 big stars -- I would have given 5 stars if RBK could explain
how he went from dedicated Jesuit celibate to having premarital
sex with a complete stranger. Other than that odd sequence of
unCatholic events, RBK wrote a great account of his life during
the Vatican II Council. Is the book damaging to the Vatican
heirarchy? Maybe. Highly damaging to ex-Jesuit ex-Fr. Malachy
Martin? Absolutely!...Martin lovers and ArtBell Coast2Coast
fans take notice!! Liberal, progressive Catholics will love
this book.
Rating: 2
Summary: a bizarre tale: where does the truth really lie?
Comment: Robert Blair Kaiser's book is a quick read- as he is a good writer overall and the matter is fascinating for someone who is interested in an existential account of pre-conciliar Jesuit religious life- if this is a true picture- even if it isn't, it reads like good fiction- and the inner conflicts of a young man. However, he tries to present himself in a very positive light and his "enemies" as all evil. It's a bit of a stretch if you critically look at the big picture. I just have many questions for the author: he claims the famous Malachy Martin seduced his wife and has him committed to a mental institution: that raised two questions in my mind: Why only make this charge after M. Martin is dead and can't defend himself? (I'm not a big M. Martin fan, but this is a logical question) And why do you blame Martin and others for getting you committed to a mental institution when you agreed to it? You could have said no. And if so, why blame your problems on others?
Additionally, the author talks over and over about "growing up" in relation to his Catholic faith- yet he seems to be a perpetual teenager in his faith development in that he seems to be obsessed with sex and rationalized the two adulturous affairs and one attempted one with the BBC producer, despite the fact that they are serious sins- I guess by feeling bad for himself that his wife no longer cared for him. And a bigger question is: Why would you pursue your wife, and once you get her back drop her like a bad memory, unless you are a sociopath yourself and just wanted to prove your superiority. "He wants the rules to work for him, as he says (p. 292). He fails to understand that to be a "mature" Catholic does not mean you can do whatever you want and God says o.k. because "He loves human stories" (p.293), but rather by imiating Jesus who was obedient unto death. Obedience, contrary to the modern secular mentality that the author obviously has bought into, is the way to holiness, salvation and Heaven. As Catholics, the saints show us this over and over again in their example for us of living the Gospel in daily life. Are they immature, Mr. Kaiser? Kaiser is a sad example of a person who has bought into the mentality of the world and has suffered for his rebellion. It's what Cardinal Ratzinger has called the sunny naive optimism of the 60's, and the fruits of that outlook have been bitter in reality: broken families, narcissism, abortion, rampant sexual perversity etc. Kaiser is constantly harping in the book on sexual issues. To cite just one example: I wonder if he can honestly say that advocating artificial contraception has made our world better? It doesn't show in reality to put it mildly. Kaiser lives in a self- created world of his own- in which it is mostly a pity party for Robert. It's hard to distinguish what is true from what is false in this book, but if it tells us anything it is: if you think you know better than the divinely instituted teaching authority of the Church, you are on the road to personal and spiritual diaster. As E. Michael Jones put it in Degenerate Moderns "either you conform your desires to the Truth, or the Truth to your desires." Kaiser has obviously done the later. This book does nothing to undermine the Church's teaching that sexuality is sacred, in fact he proves it in a backhanded way, by showing the chaos of his own life. And to the reviewers of this book who think his book is a revelation on the clerical scandal the Catholic Church has faced in the past year I say this: I suspect those [twisted] priests who have ripped apart the mystical body of Christ, as has come out in the last year, have a very similar rebellous attitude towards Church teaching, as Kaiser does, and thought by following their feelings all would be good: the result has been the destroyed innocence of countless children and adolescents as well as the faith of many. The wages of disobedience is destruction and death. Kaiser needs our prayers.
Rating: 4
Summary: Clerical Error
Comment: This book is well worth the read. In view of the fact that it was written prior to the breaking of the current scandal, it seems almost prophetic at times. When the author gives his scathing critique of celebacy, however, he assumed that the indescretions of the clergy involved adult men and women. Even Kaiser could not imagine the depth of horrific betrayal of trust in the abuse of children that so many clergy would be capable of.
This book is a "must read" for anyone seriously interested in reform in the Roman Catholic Church. It so speaks of its systemic abuse and misuse of power.
One more reason for RCs to get out of our pews and take back the church.
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Title: A People Adrift : The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America by Peter Steinfels ISBN: 0684836637 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Our Fathers : The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal by David France ISBN: 0767914309 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 20 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Angels & Demons by Dan Brown ISBN: 0671027360 Publisher: Pocket Star Pub. Date: 26 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss by Arthur Agatston ISBN: 1579546463 Publisher: Rodale Press Pub. Date: 05 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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