Figure 85

THE CHURCH THAT FORGOT CHRIST , by Jimmy Breslin. Free Press, 239 pp., $26.

Irish Catholic NY Columnist Quits Catholic Church in Disgust

Book Quotes:

"What I am going to do now is invoke the special powers act of the first new Catholic parish in my diocese of Brooklyn since 1972, one in which I am in charge with the rank of bishop. Bishop Breslin. ... I qualify for the rank of bishop because I am not a pedophile."

"The present pope has four subjects on his mind: abortion, abortion, abortion and Poland."

"A gold ring on a bishop's finger is the commercial of a pimp."

"[Convicted mass molester Fr. John Geoghan of Boston] walked out of the black smoke at the gates of hell with his collar turned around and his hands seemingly filled with ice-cream cones, but in whose fingers were razor blades, the better to maim all the young he pawed."

"You can blame the church's condition on the Irish, who gave us total religious insanity. They are a race that sat in the rain for a couple of thousand years and promoted the most crazed beliefs in personal living outside the hillbillies."