Robert Blair Kaiser's book is a quick read- as he is a good writer overall and the matter is fascinating for someone who is interested in an existential account of pre-conciliar Jesuit religious life- if this is a true picture- even if it isn't, it reads like good fiction- and the inner conflicts of a young man. However, he tries to present himself in a very positive light and his "enemies" as all evil. It's a bit of a stretch if you critically look at the big picture. I just have many questions for the author: he claims the famous Malachy Martin seduced his wife and has him committed to a mental institution: that raised two questions in my mind: Why only make this charge after M. Martin is dead and can't defend himself? (I'm not a big M. Martin fan, but this is a logical question) And why do you blame Martin and others for getting you committed to a mental institution when you agreed to it? You could have said no. And if so, why blame your problems on others?
Additionally, the author talks over and over about "growing up" in relation to his Catholic faith- yet he seems to be a perpetual teenager in his faith development in that he seems to be obsessed with sex and rationalized the two adulturous affairs and one attempted one with the BBC producer, despite the fact that they are serious sins- I guess by feeling bad for himself that his wife no longer cared for him. And a bigger question is: Why would you pursue your wife, and once you get her back drop her like a bad memory, unless you are a sociopath yourself and just wanted to prove your superiority. "He wants the rules to work for him, as he says (p. 292). He fails to understand that to be a "mature" Catholic does not mean you can do whatever you want and God says o.k. because "He loves human stories" (p.293), but rather by imiating Jesus who was obedient unto death. Obedience, contrary to the modern secular mentality that the author obviously has bought into, is the way to holiness, salvation and Heaven. As Catholics, the saints show us this over and over again in their example for us of living the Gospel in daily life. Are they immature, Mr. Kaiser? Kaiser is a sad example of a person who has bought into the mentality of the world and has suffered for his rebellion. It's what Cardinal Ratzinger has called the sunny naive optimism of the 60's, and the fruits of that outlook have been bitter in reality: broken families, narcissism, abortion, rampant sexual perversity etc. Kaiser is constantly harping in the book on sexual issues. To cite just one example: I wonder if he can honestly say that advocating artificial contraception has made our world better? It doesn't show in reality to put it mildly. Kaiser lives in a self- created world of his own- in which it is mostly a pity party for Robert. It's hard to distinguish what is true from what is false in this book, but if it tells us anything it is: if you think you know better than the divinely instituted teaching authority of the Church, you are on the road to personal and spiritual diaster. As E. Michael Jones put it in Degenerate Moderns "either you conform your desires to the Truth, or the Truth to your desires." Kaiser has obviously done the later. This book does nothing to undermine the Church's teaching that sexuality is sacred, in fact he proves it in a backhanded way, by showing the chaos of his own life. And to the reviewers of this book who think his book is a revelation on the clerical scandal the Catholic Church has faced in the past year I say this: I suspect those [twisted] priests who have ripped apart the mystical body of Christ, as has come out in the last year, have a very similar rebellous attitude towards Church teaching, as Kaiser does, and thought by following their feelings all would be good: the result has been the destroyed innocence of countless children and adolescents as well as the faith of many. The wages of disobedience is destruction and death. Kaiser needs our prayers.

The only reason I purchased this book was to find out what Kaiser had to say about Father(?) Malachi Martin. (I'm a middle of the road Catholic). I've read several of Fr. Martin's books and now Robert Kaiser is saying that this seemingly traditionalist (Latin mass, etc.) Catholic, was a serial seducer and more in his younger days! The second half of this book relates the author's experiences as a Time magazine journalist in Rome during Vatican II and if you believe everything Kaiser writes about Fr. Martin, you're bound to hate this priest by the end of this book. He's a love 'em and leave 'em type, with a string of jilted women. Martin also conspires to have the author committed to a mental institution, while sleeping in Kaiser's bed, with his wife, and in his "red nightshirt."
Well, Kaiser can be described as "hell hath no fury like a husband scorned;" he hired private eyes to follow his wife in Rome and London; Kaiser himself even has an affair with another woman who was also seduced and left by Fr. Martin. This would make a good soap on TV, and the second half of the book is a good read.
My basic problem with the book is whether it is believable, and if so, how much is truth or fiction. The author is definitely wrong on one point, he cites Fr. Martin as being 47 when Kaiser first met him in late 1962. However, all biographies state that Martin was born in 1921, making him only 41 at the time.
My biggest problem with the book is the author's veracity in describing the religious views of Fr. Martin. How could Martin be portrayed as an ultra-liberal Catholic priest at the time of Vatican II, only to immediately become ultra-conservative as soon as he left the priesthod, moved to NYC and began his writing career? Usually, it's the liberals who leave the priesthood, and it's not to spend the rest of their lives writing about the virtues of traditional Catholicism. Maybe Martin was as the author stated, a sociopath. I feel, in jest, that maybe Martin was doing penance for the sins of his younger years, or possibly he was just an opportunist. Whom do you believe?
I have two wishes - First, that the author would have at least theorized on how or why Fr. Martin could have almost instantly turned from a religious liberal to ultra-conservative. Secondly, maybe there are readers of this review who know or knew Kaiser and Martin and could offer further insight about what the whole truth really is.

This book is well worth the read. In view of the fact that it was written prior to the breaking of the current scandal, it seems almost prophetic at times. When the author gives his scathing critique of celebacy, however, he assumed that the indescretions of the clergy involved adult men and women. Even Kaiser could not imagine the depth of horrific betrayal of trust in the abuse of children that so many clergy would be capable of.

This book is a "must read" for anyone seriously interested in reform in the Roman Catholic Church. It so speaks of its systemic abuse and misuse of power.

One more reason for RCs to get out of our pews and take back the church.