Author, outspoken priest Greeley dies

Associated Press

CHICAGO

The Rev. Andrew Greeley was, it seems, always writing. At home on a typewriter, later on a computer, then on a plane with a laptop and even in his car dictating into a tape recorder as he drove.

By the time he finished, the outspoken Roman Catholic priest and Chicago newspaper columnist had written more than 100 nonfiction books and some 50 novels, many international mystery thrillers that routinely climbed onto best-seller lists. They were translated into a dozen languages.

And he also often spoke out about various religious topics, even criticizing the hierarchy of his own church over the child sex- abuse scandal.

On Wednesday night, nearly five years after he suffered a brain injury during a fall that put him in a coma for weeks, Greeley died in his home in downtown Chicago. He was 85.

Greeley, who was ordained in 1954, wrote a weekly column that appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers on the relationship between religion and politics. An internationally recognized scholar, he also was a contributor to The New York Times, National Catholic Reporter and other publications.

His final book, “Chicago Catholics and the Struggles Within Their Church,” was published in 2010, exploring a topic that he had written about for years, sometimes giving him a reputation for generating controversy in the church.