Lyons Tamed

No writer in the U.S. Catholic press has been a more sulfurous advocate of rightist views in recent years than Jesuit Priest Dan Lyons, 55. He fought the cold war long after most Catholics had thawed. He attacked modernists, the Berrigan brothers and the liberal Catholic press. In 1970, when liberals were agitating for the right to marry and remain priests, he wrote: "The Church decided long ago that the celibate priest is more like Christ."

Last week Lyons' voice was suddenly silent. He had turned in his last columns to the National Catholic Register and Twin Circle (combined weekly circulation: 162,000), left his Manhattan office and headed west. Days later, he walked into the Portland, Ore., headquarters of his Jesuit superior, the Very Rev. Kenneth Galbraith, and stunned him by asking for a leave of absence, with the intention of ultimately seeking release from his priestly vows. After all the dropouts in recent years, "I thought I was through with being surprised," says Galbraith, "but I was surprised."

Lyons gave no public explanation, but Lyons-watchers immediately assumed that he wants to leave the priesthood in order to marry winsome Irish Singer Mary Cooney, 24. Lyons, who had flown back to New York, flatly denied to TIME that Cooney played any role in his decision. Lyons met Cooney two years ago and since then has acted part-time as her manager. A few months ago Twin Circle ran a laudatory feature story about her talents.

Several years ago, Lyons told his biographer, "It would be impossible for me to leave the priesthood." And his defection would undoubtedly come as a shock to his loyally pious fans, many of whom presumably associate priestly dropouts with apostasy. Unlike many liberals, however, Lyons is following the proper rules for leaving. In his heyday, Lyons was a formidable figure in conservative Catholicism. With Schick Razor King Patrick Frawley, Lyons started Twin Circle in 1967, served as its editor and got Frawley to take over the Register in 1970. He also raised money from conservatives to buy the 77-year-old priests' monthly, Homiletic and Pastoral Review.

Editor Stung. One Jesuit stung by Lyons' defection is a fellow conservative, Father Kenneth Baker, editor of the Homiletic. Last week confusion reigned as Baker quit and killed the October edition just as it was about to go to press. Said he: "With his going off and leaving like this, it doesn't make any sense for me to continue."

Somewhat belatedly, Baker realized that Lyons was the sole owner of the Homiletic, but Lyons, without consulting Baker, says he has turned control of the magazine over to Galbraith. At week's end Galbraith was flying to New York City to confer with both Lyons and Baker. Legally, the Homiletic had belonged to a Lyons-owned enterprise called Catholic Polls, Inc. One purpose of the organization: to poll the Catholic clergy and prove Lyons' contention that a majority oppose permitting priests to marry.

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