Why Priests? A Failed Tradition by Garry Wills

Catholic scholar Garry Wills suggests that the church he grew up in would be healthier if it had no priests at all.

(Viking, $28)

Forget about the possibility of female priests in the Roman Catholic Church, said Kevin Madigan in The New Republic. In his “provocative, historically rich, and slightly quixotic” new book, Catholic scholar Garry Wills suggests that the church he grew up in would be healthier if it had no priests at all. Wills, who repeatedly points out that many of his friends are Catholic priests, argues that Jesus never intended to establish a priesthood and that the early Christian church operated without one. Of course, an end to popes, bishops, and priests “will never be seriously considered, either by Catholic priests or many parishioners.” Still, it would be a shame if Wills’s historical analysis were ignored, because it’s “crucially enlightening.”

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