'Greed is murder': Michael Enright's 2004 interview with Jimmy Breslin about the Catholic Church

Jimmy Breslin, who died this past week at the age of 88, was a legend in the world of newspapers. As a columnist, reporter and investigative journalist in New York City, he spent time with working-class people, gangsters and thieves. He told their stories with colour, insight, and when called for, no small measure of rage.

In 1986, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for commentary, for a column he wrote about the death from AIDS of a young man called David Camacho. In addition to his columns and stories, he wrote many books, including The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight, a biography of Damon Runyan, and a memoir, called I Want to Thank My Brain for Remembering Me.

His 1994 book, The Church That Forgot Christ, is angry, intemperate and provocative. Breslin, a lifelong, devoted Catholic, tackled the sex scandal that plagues the Roman Catholic Church. The book is a denunciation of the institution that, for years, brought comfort to the author .

Michael Enright met him in person in CBC's New York City studio to talk about The Church That Forgot Christ in 2004. You can hear their full conversation by clicking 'listen' above. To hear Michael's essay on how Jimmy Breslin changed journalism, click here.