Author, priest Greeley laid to rest

The Rev. Andrew Greeley was known as an author, a scholar and a priest who challenged authority. He was also remembered as a genuine Chicagoan and a dedicated servant of the church.

A funeral mass for Greeley was celebrated Wednesday by Chicago Cardinal Francis George at Christ the King Roman Catholic Church on the city’s South Side. Greeley was a parish priest at the church in the 1950s and 1960s.

In a statement, his family said though they are grieving, they find hope in the promise of heaven their uncle proclaimed during his life.

Greeley died at his Chicago home last week. He was 85.

Greeley wrote more than 50 best-selling novels, many of them international mystery thrillers, and dozens of nonfiction works. He also penned a newspaper column.