In Mysterious Ways: The Death and Life of a Parish Priest

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Summary: A modern-day Bernarnos tells the life of an urban priest.
Review: Paul Wilkes, often seen in the pages of the New Yorker or the New York Times Sunday Magazine writing on issues of faith in the modern age, turns in a compelling biography of a modern-day Catholic cleric. Entering the priesthood in the idyllic 1950s, Joe Greer's expectations were completely upturned by the dramatic changes of Vatican II and the wrenching realities of ministry in inner-city Boston. Rather than enjoying the peace of a well-appointed rectory, Fr. Greer winds up riding the stone-pelted school buses of Boston during the angry days of desegregation. Never claiming sainthood for himself, Greer struggles with very human temptations -- and occasionally falls to them, only to repent and try again. Finally, as the pastor of a suburban Boston church, Joe Greer faces the greatest challenge to faith anyone can confront -- he is diagnosed with a rampant and unyielding form of cancer. How this good man of a faith always open to doubt deals with the most dangerous temptation -- the temptation of despair -- shapes the crux of this well-told spiritual biography

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Summary: It's Not Just a Sunday Job
Review: This book really shows the day-to-day experience of a parish priest and probably applies to any clergy role. Of course, this book's main subject is, in addition, suffering from a terrible form of cancer. As the book portrays, he tries his best to keep going, even through times of debilitating treatment. By the end of the book, he has learned some painful lessons about delegating responsibility, and when to put yourself first. Still, the priest remains a faithful servant, trying to do God's will and trying at the same time to just survive. The book speaks a great deal to the demands on a clergy person's time and what that means for his/her life. Plus this book focusing on a Catholic priest also reminded me of the stresses in the Catholic church of today. (This book, however, was written more than 10 years ago.) For anyone interested in church life, the book illuminates some constant themes--mainly the need of the priest to serve pastoral and theological needs while, at the same time, making sure the boilers in the buildings are working.