The thoughts expressed in the book are remarkable less because of their content than because of their author. Neither macho playboy nor successful careerist, they go about their work without wife and children, without a home of their own, without the cultural symbols that define achievement. In the eyes of many, their manliness drifts about in a sea of ambiguity, and recent clerical scandals of sexual misconduct with young boys have severely tarnished their collective reputation. But it is his comments on sexuality that are garnering the most attention. In one of his most provocative sections, Cozzens takes on the issue of sexual abuse among clergy and asserts that most priests who are abusers target teenage boys as victims, unlike most other child abusers, who, he said, tend to target girls. ''To insist that there is simply no correlation between mandatory celibacy and the present crisis over clergy misconduct with minors looks like bureaucratic bullying as long as the Vatican remains opposed to even discussion concerning the systems undergirding the priestly lifestyle,'' he writes.
Few priests are ready to speak publicly about the book.
It's far and away the best-selling small book we've done in the last five years,'' said Peter Dwyer, marketing manager for Liturgical Press, which published it. Dwyer said the company, based in Collegeville, Minn., has sold most of the 20,000 copies in print. The book has received positive reviews in Catholic periodicals. Morneau said in an interview. ''We need to look at what's going on, because we're having a major shortage of priest personnel.'' In Cleveland, the reaction has been more mixed. I think that we as Christians don't have to be afraid of the truth.