Review: Faith by Jennifer Haigh

Faith by Jennifer Haigh is a powerful story of corruption in the Catholic Church and the difficulties of finding and holding onto faith - in religion and in others.  The narrator, Sheila McGann, is the daughter of Irish American parents who was raised in a Boston suburb and now lives in Philadelphia.  She is drawn home to Boston when her oldest brother, Art, is accused of molesting a young boy.  A scandal and devastating for both the accused, accuser and their families for sure - but even more so because Art is a priest.  This news breaks amidst the crisis in the Catholic Church as it becomes increasingly clear that the Archdiocese was aware of the trangressions committed by priests and the Church was complicit by moving known pedophiles to new parishes to prey on other unsuspecting parishioners. Haigh tackles this charged and controversial topic by developing richly drawn characters who demonstrate how difficult it is to know the extent of the complex story behind a headline. 

Sheila McGann, upon hearing the news of the accusations against Art, cannot believe the man she knows and grew up with could be capable of hurting a child.  She is certain that he has been wrongly accused and advises her brother to "come down off the cross" when he doesn't seem to want to vehemently defend his case.  He has put his faith in the Church and believes they will take care of him while Sheila believes the Church will take care of itself and sacrifice Art if necessary to avert further controversy.  As she helps Art move out of the rectory and into a rented apartment, she gains a peek into the inner life of her solitary brother, the priest, and begins to appreciate the loneliness he faces daily. 

As much as this story is about Art and the Catholic Church, it is also about the McGann family and the dynamics that have defined their interactions with each other.  In this quote, Sheils tries to explain the family in which she was raised:

Evasion comes naturally in my tribe, this loose jumble of McGann, Devine and Breen. . . . My Father is a man of shameful habits.  My Mother is lace-curtain Irish.  She will settle for correctness, or the appearance of it; but in her heart she only wants to be good. The space between them is crisscrossed with silent bridges, built of half-truths and suppressions.  The chasm beneath is deep and wide.

This quote perfectly describes the reticent McGann's whose matriarch is most concerned with what others will think while much goes unsaid and unacknowledged.  It is not hard to see why secrets are so pervasive in this family.  There are certainly parallels between the  McGann tribe and the Catholic Church  - the suppressions and the willingness to settle for the appearance of correctness if the achievement of it becomes too aspirational.  

My thoughts
I grew up Catholic and attended almost 12 years of Catholic school and am outraged by the sinister role the Church played in covering up the transgressions of some of its priests.  It certainly shakes my faith in an institution I took at face value as a child and believed was above reproach.  Haigh addresses the disappointment and anger felt by Catholics such as me but also exposes the collateral damage done by the scandal and the danger of prejudging everyone based on the acts of a few.   A priest in the novel says 

Meeting a woman, meeting a man.  God forbid, meeting a child.  I'm a priest, my dear.  In the current climate, any human interaction is suspect.

Haigh does a superb job of both portraying a complicated, complex family and addressing the controversial topic of the Church's pedophilia scandals.  She unravels the story and the characters slowly and keeps you wanting to turn the pages to learn just a little more about this collection of imperfect characters and to get the next installment in the story that is not as it seems in the beginning.  I cannot recommend this book heartily enough and it will definitely be in my top ten for 2011.