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Title: Our Fathers : The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal by DAVID FRANCE ISBN: 0-7679-1430-9 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 20 January, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.68 (19 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Where are the Millstones?
Comment: Our Fathers is an outstanding, truthful, report on the sexual abuse by priests and the cover-up by the bishops of many thousands of children in the Roman Catholic Church. It is astounding and astonishing to find that the hierarchy of the church, (popes and bishops) knew for decades about the holocaust of children and acted as cold, indifferent, blind, deaf men for decades in order to protect their clericalism and power.
David France reported on the scandal as it unfolded. It is a compelling read and should be a "must read" for every catholic who wants Jesus Christ to stop mourning, wailing and weeping.
RD0512 from Boston states that the book is, "NOT VERY POSITIVE". There is nothing positive about the sexual abuse, rape, pornography, threats, suicides, drugs, secrecy, lying, destroying of files, accusing the children of causing their own rape, priests sitting in prisons, guilty bishops have not yet been held accountable and they don't have the common sense, the common decency, or the morals, or the spirituality to resign, etc.
What has happened in Boston happened across the USA and in almost every country where the catholic church exists. rd0512 also states that, "we should pray more and stop writing novels". What has happened to the children are actual facts. And, prayer is what catholic did before the scandal and after the scandal. But this time prayer should be accompanied by actions.
What has happened to the church of Jesus Christ is both another Gethsemane and Calvary. The truth must be faced, sadly and shamely accepted and the systemic causes of this cancer must be completely examined and eliminated. The catholic church needs an Easter Sunday. I highly recommend Our Fathers and Vows of Silence by Jason Berry.
Rating: 5
Summary: Heroes for Our Time--Father Thomas Doyle and Richard Sipe
Comment: I have read many books about the Catholic Church crisis ever since the priest pedophile scandal made sweeping headlines in 2002, and this book ranks near the top.
The word "evil" can be changed to "vile" by moving the letters around. By adding the letter "d", we have the word "devil" and those three words are applicable to many priests and bishops who are depicted in David France's excellent book. I believe they started out with "love" (change the "i" to "o") in their hearts for their calling and their flocks, but the evil priests could not resist their impulses to harm children. The evil bishops could not resist their self-serving impulses to protect the church from shame and scandal even though countless children would be scarred for life by their shameful actions of moving the priests around from parish to parish.
The book told me a lot about Vatican II that I did not know and gave me information about the gay priest situation that I did not know. It took me into the thoughts and/or actions of the victims, the priests (both good and bad), the bishops, and the families of survivors and others willing to reach out and help.
Father Thomas Doyle stood out in this book as a hero as did Richard Sipe, a psychotherapist and former Benedictine monk. Both men tried to warn the hierarchy about what was coming if changes were not made, but the higher-ups would not listen. Father Doyle was on his way to becoming a bishop, but when he sided with the molested victims and their families, that was the end of his upward career. He was moved out of his prominent position and was given the position of chaplain.
This book also gives useful information about several survivor groups and other groups such as Voice of the Faithful. I went to one of the latter's meetings and was impressed with the presentations. I believe that these people love the Catholic Church and are working with the Holy Spirit to help bring about needed changes.
Any person who is interested in the survival of the Catholic Church should read this book carefully. I was already reading two books and put them aside after I received this book in the mail. It is a long book but it never is dull. I thought when the author wrote about the courtroom scenes, the book would become boring but that did not happen. The author kept interspersing victims' stories into the chapters devoted to the courtroom actions so the momentum was never lost.
Rating: 5
Summary: Thought provoking and behind the headlines
Comment: David France has done an interesting job of bringing together many threads in a very complex story. He starts well back with the seminary days of some of the figures that will come to be players in this story. Much of what he does is to place this story in context - in context of the church during this period, and of society in general. Was the non-celibacy of priests a problem that came to light in the past decade an aberration? Was it a product of the sexual revolution? Was it a reflection of society in general? Or was it an exposed side of a more deeply rooted problem? France leans towards the latter, but gives each of these ideas some thought.
Upon first glance, one would assume it is about the recent priest child molestation cases. But the author moves beyond this, to note a range of sexuality related problems, not only with the child molester, but also with the priest engaged in illicit sexual affairs, and the self identified gay priests. I give France high kudos for his work sifting through thousands and thousands of pages of legal records and history to distill the important points into his narrative. The book is anything but dry. While not light reading, it is captivating and introduces you to a whole spectrum of players in this drama.
No, the book is not positive. In fact very few from within the church leadership come across in much positive light, though there are some. Rather the positive light is shone upon the laity, trying to take back the church and correct the wrongs that have been perpetrated. It's the David and Goliath story of people moved to bring change facing an entrenched bureaucracy, and one that for many is unassailable. A bureaucracy that could and would not see a pattern until too late, and then would be too tied up in the problem to face the issue. French has done a very good job trying to show all the sides in these issues, and try to find where the motivation for their reactions come from. While he is sympathetic to the victims, he does not blindly anoint them with right. Rather he does entertain the possibility of some mistaken "memories" that came about from supposed 'repressed memory' therapy. No one in this story is above reproach.
As a lapsed Catholic, the most common reaction I had as I read this was sadness. Sadness for what had happened, and what had been allowed to happen. And anger at how it was allowed to happen. The second half of the book is centered around Cardinal Bernard Law, and how his actions, and inactions, while not causing the scandal, certainly helped bring about the eventual explosion of allegations, and his lack of reaction fueled the fire of anger burning within the victims, and many members of the church.
This is a sad story, and a sad chapter in history. This book helps to tries to bring together what happened, and to try and untangle the threads that make the story so complex. A must read for anyone who wants to try and understand what happened in the Catholic Church, and hope that it cannot happen again.
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Title: Vows of Silence : The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II by Jason Berry, Gerald Renner ISBN: 0743244419 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 04 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: A People Adrift : The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America by Peter Steinfels ISBN: 0684836637 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: The Coming Catholic Church : How the Faithful Are Shaping a New American Catholicism by David Gibson ISBN: 0060530707 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: The Other Side of the Altar: One Man's Life in the Catholic Priesthood by Paul E. Dinter ISBN: 0374299668 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 31 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church by Donald B. Cozzens ISBN: 081462779X Publisher: Liturgical Press Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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