Predatory Priests Silenced Victims

<p>The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church captured headlines and mobilized public outrage in January 2002. But much of the commentary that immediately followed was reductionistic focusing on single causes of clerical abuse such as mandatory celibacy homosexuality sexual repressiveness or sexual permissiveness anti-Catholicism and a decadent secular culture.</p><p><em>Predatory Priests Silenced Victims: The Sexual Abuse Crisis and the Catholic Church</em> a collection of groundbreaking articles edited by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea and Virginia Goldner eschews such one-size-fits-all theorizing. In its place the abuse situation is explored in all its troubling complexity as contributors take into account the experiences respectively of the victim/survivor the abuser/perpetrator and the bystander (whether family member professional/clergy or the community at large). Setting polemics to the side <em>Predatory Priests Silenced Victims</em> provides a sober and sobering analysis of the interlacing historical doctrinal and psychological issues that came together in the sexual abuse scandal. It is mandatory reading for all who seek thoughtful informed commentary on a crisis long in the making and yet to be resolved.</p>