Agony in the Garden

Rating:
Summary: A Well-Researched Picture of a Church Scandal
Review: Despite it's less-than-descriptive title, this book is actually an account of recent (...) and monetary scandals in one Roman Catholic diocese. I live there, and I'm a Catholic. I'm also a reference librarian, and I think the book seems quite well-reserched. It goes far beyond what I read in the local newspaper. It's also a very fast read--I read it in a week-end, almost without putting it down. I'm ordering a copy for my library, and a second one to loan to my friends.

Rating:
Summary: A Botched Opportunity
Review: Don't be fooled by the way-off-the-mark comments from an earlier reviewer about how "riveting" and "carefully researched" this book is. That's hogwash. Simply put, this book is lousy. Instead of research we get preaching. Instead of details, we get complaints. Worst of all, the author seems to think the book is really about *his* hangups with the Catholic Church, rather than the real story (Ziemann's scandal) he purports to write about.

What a drag that an important opportunity to tell this story was so badly botched.

The Bishop Zeimann scandal in Santa Rosa was shocking, even by today's standards, and it should have been written about by a thorough, competent journalist -- exactly what the author of "Agony in the Garden" is not. This book is thin on research and bloated with pomposity. It's basically a slow-moving vehichle for the author to prattle on about his pet peeves regarding Catholic sexual ethics (birth control), feminist demands (ordination of women), and Catholic customs (celibate clergy). If only he had spent as much time actually researching the story (as opposed to simply stringing together already known details of the scandal that are readily available in the press) as he did whining about things he dislikes in the Catholic Church. One can only hope that someday a serious writer, not a whiner, will tackle this sickening story and give it the competent treatment it should have received, but didn't, in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Non-Catholic appreciates insights
Review: I appreciate Van Der Zee's insights into the reasons behind the pedophilia of priests, which I believe is the worst epidemic in America. This situation has got to be stopped! I hope the Pope reads this.


Rating:
Summary: A Major Disappointment -- Don't Waste Your Money
Review: John van der Zee's treatment of the recent scandels in the Diocese of Santa Rosa manages to be both illuminating and riveting. I took the book on a business trip and was drawn in by the "Forward". Having begun, I could not stop until finished.

The author delivers a blow-by-blow account of the events, revelations and shameful cover-up. He provides the reader with the personal history of the main players for perspective. He also intermixes his thoughts on the systemic problems with the Catholic Church which contibuted to or, perhaps, allowed the entire debacle to occur. I appreciate the fact that this was done lightly in a manner which was designed to provoke thought rather than conclusions.

As a short-lived member of a Diocesan finance subcomittee, I found his material to be well-researched and his conclusions reasoned. His observations about the future of the Catholic Church in the modern world are particularly compelling.

While this book could easily be turned into a riveting Hollywood movie, it is much more valuable as a reminder that absolute power vested in a few individuals should be avoided by any organization and that we must all demand honesty and accountability from our leaders whether they be financial, political or spiritual.

Rating:
Summary: A Major Disappointment -- Don't Waste Your Money
Review: This book is hardly the carefully researched analysis of the scandal in the Santa Rosa diocese that I had hoped for. Rather, it's a mish-mash of the author's ranting against the Catholic Church's teachings and pontificating about the evils of priestly celibacy and the obvious hyper-importance he attaches to feminist complaints against Catholicism. Was the author trying to win some kind of feminist think-tank award by parading his outrage over the fact that the Catholic Church doesn't ordain women? If so, he should win something for his efforts. But that's about the only sort of prize this book deserves. It's ruined by the sycophantic whining about the "plight" of Catholic women, celibacy, and his other pet peeves. And that's a darn shame. This sordid story about what happened in Santa Rosa and how Bishop Zeimann had to resign in disgrace over the revelation of his financial mismanagement and homosexual affair with a priest of the diocese desrves an objective analysis by an objective author. Agony in the Garden has neither. Don't waste your time and money. I wish I hadn't wasted mine.