Patrick H. McNamara Replies to Andrew Greeley

Abstract

A fter reading Andrew Greeley's paragraphs replying to Sam Mueller, I had that feeling of relief well-known to the combat'infantryman: just a few nicks from that exploding shell in the next field. Nothing mortal! But nicks are nicks, and I'm sorry Andy felt I was saying only, by jimminy, that man has uttered theory. Given the intense battles (back to the war imagery again) surrounding Greeley's work, I thought it appropriate to assess his theoretical contributions, which is what the editor asked of me. On the whole, I frankly judge my assessment complimentary to him. As for my comments on the survey data used to sustain Greeley's thesis in Unsecular Man, I can only echo Sam Mueller's reply. Symposium contributors are responsible for published work. I evaluated Unsecular Man in terms of the data utilized in the book itself to support the book's thesis. Period. If the current McCready-Greeley NORC study, which I -have indeed been following closely, alters that book's thesis, fine. It's time for another book. same holds, of course, for Greeley's complaint that I have easily learned that he was in process of writing a book about the decline of the Catholic Church. (May I tend a hesitant reservation that a replication of the GreeleyRossi parochial school study will really constitute a full-scale sociological analysis of Roman Catholicism's apparent decline?) As for my not having read the McCready-Greeley essay, The End of American Catholicism, (1) I merely included it in my recently published reader, Religion American Style (Harper & Row, 1974); (2) as much as I like the essay, I do not regard it as a thoroughgoing analysis of changes in Roman Catholicism since the Second Vatican Council. I still feel that Greeley could bring this off as well or better than any sociologist I know. In fact, I think he's taken a significant stride in suggesting symbolic reformulation of Catholic doctrine in New Agenda. Unfortunately, this book appeared too late to be included in my essay, though I am reviewing it elsewhere. No, Andy, it's not a heads-I-win-tails-you-lose proposition. I still think my review, while expressing some disappointments, said essentially, you're a winner, Andrew Greeley. I'm sorry you felt otherwise.