Andrew M. Greeley: A Short Tribute
I was shocked to find out that the Roman Catholic priest and writer, Andrew M. Greely, was seriously injured in a freak accident last Friday, June 7th. According to a report in the Chicago Sun Times, the priest had taken a cab to the L station in Chicago to return home after a lecture.
As the cab began to pull away, the 80-year-old priest fell to the ground and hit his head, fracturing his skull. He was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he was in critical condition, friends and family said Saturday afternoon.
“Right now he’s critical but stable, very stable,” niece Laura Durkin said. “Doctors are hopeful and pleased with his progress from [Friday] to [Saturday].” Greeley, who was wearing a Barack Obama baseball cap when he fell, suffered bleeding on the brain.
As of this writing, the priest remains in critical but stable condition. My prayers are with Father Greeley and the whole event saddens me more than I can say. You see, Father Greeley and I have an odd history together though we have never met. Perhaps him more than anyone else on this planet is responsible for my remaining a Christian. His influence touches almost everything I think and write. (This despite the fact the Greeley, especially in this election cycle, is a rabid—some take that literally—Liberal Democrat and I remain a conservative I don’t know what.)
Back when I was in college, I took a course on Contemporary Catholic Thought. The book used as the basis of the course was Greeley’s The Jesus Myth. Greeley is using the term “myth” in its more sociological fashion of a story with more than historical implications rather than the more common usage of “fable.” If you can get a copy of this book, it is well worth the time to read. Greeley opened up vistas of my application of Jesus unlike any other author. I was excited to read the scriptures after that; and the joy of being Christian as a result has almost never left me.
It’s that good.
After that, I pretty much devoured all he wrote, long before he became the author of romantic fiction. As I wrote to him via email several times thereafter, I always preferred his non-fiction to his fiction. It always opened my eyes to new vistas and challenged some of my more encrusted assumptions.
For some reason, he didn’t take that as a compliment.
I can also contend that Greeley wrote about what is now called “Covenantal Nomism” long before it was labeled in his book, The Sinai Myth. In that book, he discussed the fact that for the Jews the Law was the sign and response of a people to God’s passionate love rather than their means to acquire that love in 1975. Later on, when Sanders book, Paul and Palestinian Judaism” came out in 1977 and started the New Perspective on Paul, for me it was been there, done that. Greeley got there first.
On a more personal note, my girlfriend (now my wife) actually did meet Fr. Greeley. He had just published his first bestselling novel, The Cardinal Sins. My wife was in Chicago and was able to go to his apartment to get her copy autographed. He was gracious enough to come down to the lobby to sign the book for a person he did not know.
And now for the record, Greeley was the major author who tried to get my comic strip, “Joshua’s People” published. He was not successful (obviously), but I am forever grateful for the effort.
When my niece was born, my brother-in-law asked my wife and me to be the god parents. Since we were no longer Catholic, I was conflicted as to what I should do. When I email Greeley about the problem, per the address on his website, he responded. His council was, as to be expected, quick and to the point. It was also effective.
Again, this for a person he never met.
Careful readers of my work will note a similarity in writing style between Greeley and myself. That is not accident. As a famous comedian once said, “If you are going to steal, steal from the best.” Once can’t read tens of books by someone and not be influenced.
On my wall in my basement is a large cloth banner with a quote from Greeley sewn into it. “Life, for all its tragedy, is still a comedy. Indeed, it is a comic, playful dance with a passionate, loving God.”
As his biographer, John N. Kotre, said of the quote, that is the heart of Andrew Greeley. It should be our heart as well.
Get well, Fr. Greeley.
Would like an update on Greeley’s physical comdition
—m m simkins