A Gospel of Shame: Children, Sexual Abuse, and the Catholic Church [Paperback]

Frank Bruni (Author), Elinor Burkett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 2002

The relentless crescendo of revelations of sexual abuse in the nation's Catholic churches has rocked the nation. Just how widespread is child sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy? And why hasn't the Catholic church done more to stop it?

In A Gospel of Shame, Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalists Elinor Burkett and Frank Bruni provide the answers to these questions and more. The answers, however, turn out to be infuriating and heartbreaking, difficult to accept but impossible to dismiss. The authors thoroughly document dozens of cases across the country and reveal how this heinous abuse of trust has been tacitly sanctioned by the Church's silence.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this riveting, disturbing expose, journalists Burkett of the Miami Herald and Bruni of the Detroit Free Press , present an indictment of not only pedophiliac priests, but also of a church hierarchy that is interested more in concealment than compassion. Among the cases documented, the book focuses on Frank Fitzpatrick, a private detective living in Rhode Island, and his search for Father James Porter, a priest who 30 years earlier had molested him in elementary school in Massachusetts. Fitzpatrick was stonewalled by both the church and the law in tracking down the elusive cleric. When he finally found him in Minnesota in 1990--now married but also still a molester, according to court records-- Fitzpatrick helped direct the public's attention to a problem the church had been denying for years. Through the attention of the media, more than 200 people nationwide accused Porter of molesting them. This case could serve as a catalyst for many Catholics, male and female alike, who had been molested by their parish priests to now come forward. The authors estimate that the lawsuits to date have cost the church $400-500 million. Unfortunately, one concludes from this frightening book that if your child is molested by a priest, the bishop is not the avenue of recourse; better to call the police and a lawyer. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This study by two Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalists addresses the issues of trust, sacredness, and corruption within the Catholic Church. It chronicles the extent of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, who are protected by the secretive hierarchical nature of the Catholic community, and the trials experienced by the families involved. What makes the book noteworthy is its attempt to show the hesitation by the media, the mental health community, and law enforcement agencies to treat priests like other sexual offenders, such as day-care workers and teachers. Unfolding new accounts along with interviews of priests and victims, the authors explore the psychological nature of abusers and the self-preservation of the Catholic moral canon. Recommended for large collections in Catholicism.
- L. Kriz, Sioux City P.L., Ia.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (June 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060522321
• ISBN-13: 978-0060522322
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,611,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Catholischism, July 13, 2002

By 

J. Lizzi (Costa Mesa, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Gospel of Shame: Children, Sexual Abuse, and the Catholic Church (Paperback)

While not the most pleasant of topics, the disturbing news about sexual misdeeds by Catholic clergy is well-chronicled in "A Gospel of Shame," although keep in mind that this book was originally published in 1993, so recent goings-on are touched upon only briefly in the new introduction and afterword. Quite frankly, I was less interested in the subject matter than in what co-author Frank Bruni had to write about it (I really enjoyed his most recent book, "Ambling Into History," about George W. Bush). Overall, I'm mildly disappointed that this book was weighted far more toward storytelling than commentary and insight. Also, I would have preferred an updated edition with news from the last few years interspersed throughout.

The first two-thirds of the book chronicles dozens of cases of child abuse by priests; however, the overriding message becomes clear: sexual deviance among clergy is a big problem, but the bigger one is that the Catholic Church has tacitly sanctioned this misconduct through its failure to own up to it, treat these cases as crimes (as opposed to "sins"), and ultimately take steps to stop sexual abuse. Authors Bruni and Burkett portray (rightly so, sad to say) Church officials as ignorant, secretive, self-serving masters of denial who sought more often to protect their own image than the souls of their flock of worshippers. These are the ugliest examples of "the cover-up is worse than the crime," and it's not joyful reading.

The book doesn't really get rolling until the latter third, where more is said about what some of the Church's victims were doing to better understand the root cause of sexual misconduct among clergy, communicate with the Church, and ultimately work toward eradicating this demon in the system. It's a difficult proposition, but psychology, medicine, law, and even Christianity must all interact so that the Church can once again rightly serve its community of believers. I hope there won't be cause for a new edition of this book ten years from now.

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fleshes out the details, June 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A Gospel of Shame: Children, Sexual Abuse, and the Catholic Church (Paperback)

Yes, this book is a decade old, but don't pass it up just because it was published before there was a popular demand for it. Many of the cases being discussed in today's news date back decades, and this book puts the whole scandal in perspective. All these well-organized victim groups and all this anger against Cardinal Law and other bishops the media is covering today didn't just come about in the last few months. The child abuse scandal has been building over a number of years. There was the diocese of Lafayette, LA and there was the Santa Fe, NM scandal, there was a sociopathic priest named Porter who was moved from parish to parish where he molested dozens of children in the Boston diocese, and who got away with it all until his victims came back as adults to confront him. This history is documented in a readable narrative style in this book. What led some priests to abuse, how the victims were treated, and how the hierarchy tried to deny it and cover it up are all covered in this book. Written by a pair of journalists, there's no ultra-conservative agenda here, no simplistic suggestion that if they'd all just get back to fundamental pre-Vatican II theology and "pray pray pray" everything would be all right. This is a thoughtful book that fills in a lot of details you don't get by reading the daily paper or watching 2-minute interviews on cable news. It's detailed without being sensationalistic or blatantly anti-Catholic. Enlightening and interesting.

10 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lackof Integrity, Lack of Remorse, Catholicism in Trouble, August 20, 2002

By 

Bill Corporandy (Yuba City, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Gospel of Shame: Children, Sexual Abuse, and the Catholic Church (Paperback)

Bruni and Burkett have written a decent, balanced book on the explosive subject of priests' and nuns' sexual abuse of children. What strikes the reader is that even though this book was written 9 years ago, little has changed in terms of the level of abuse and the ignorance, intransigence, insensitivity and immoral choices of Church officials in dealing with the burgeoning scandal. There is a preface and afterword to the 2002 edition that offer some new information and developments but one wishes for more updated information. Some of the accounts in the main body of the book are truly horrific: priests abusing 3 year olds, a child in traction in a hospital bed,violent rapes,etc.; a priest orchestrating a group of boys in a sick and blasphemous nude rendition of the stations of the Cross and Crucifixion, priests forcing prepubescent girls to defecate on them, etc. The authors do give us some psychological insights into priestly abusers, their stunted emotional growth and lack of sexual maturity and the lack of psychological insight of bishops who forgave the abusers and allowed them to continue their patterns of abuse. There is also a brief historical perspective tracing child abuse back to Roman and Medieval times. The expulsion of the Muslims from Spain was followed by a celebration in which Church authorities passed around liquor and small children to be used for sex. We are also told about the devastatingly adverse affects on the lives of more current victims. Bruni and Burkett also write compassionately about another group of victims, innocent priests who have had to bear the insults of bigots. Many priests have also suffered a loss of confidence about their calling and often feel there is an unspoken presumption of their guilt on the part of parishioners who are less friendly, less trusting. This is a good book, well worth reading, but one hopes for a more thoroughly updated account with a deeper probing of all aspects of the problem.