Lead Us Not into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children [Paperback]

Jason Berry (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0252068122 | ISBN-13: 978-0252068126 | Publication Date: March 27, 2000

"Jason Berry's "Lead Us Not into Temptation" put a national spotlight on the issue of clergy sex abuse of children and has been used in newsrooms across the country. Berry takes us through the lives of traumatized victims and their parents, torn by loyalty to the church, into the machinations of bishops and church lawyers. At root, this is a story about politics, how sexual conflicts within clerical culture have compromised the power structure of the church. This new paperback edition of Berry's investigation includes an updated introduction that takes the scandal into the Vatican."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a shocking, graphic expose, New Orleans journalist Berry documents scores of cases of sexual abuse of boys by Roman Catholic priests across the U.S. Tracking this tragic story from Louisiana to Washington, D.C., and then to New York, Berry reports that most child-molesting priests are simply reassigned to a different parish. He accuses the Catholic bishops of evasion and cover-up, compounded by moral myopia and an appalling indifference to the victims of pedophilia. He also cites cases of women seduced and discarded by their pastors. Further, Berry probes the homophobia within a clerical culture which, he maintains, allows ample freedom to gay clergy provided they keep their sexual orientation a secret. He describes the organized movements of women and men within the Church who are challenging the bishops' silence. Berry ends with a plea to abolish mandatory celibacy for priests. Greeley, in his foreword, notes that sexual abuse "may be the greatest scandal in the history of religion in America."
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Berry, a New Orleans journalist, tips over a religious rock and finds a nest of corruption, deceit, and despair. Despite a hyperventilating foreword by Andrew Greeley (``perhaps the most serious crisis Catholicism has faced since the Reformation''), this proves to be a temperate, detailed investigation of a religious tragedy: pedophilia among Roman Catholic priests. According to the statistics given here, perhaps two percent of them lust after children; what shocks is that any man devoted to pastoral care would act on such impulses, and that local Church authorities sometimes covered up the evidence. Berry (a Catholic) discovered the scandal in 1984, when rumors began to spread about Gilbert Gauthe, a priest in Cajun country, Louisiana. In gritty, novelistic fashion (``A dread feeling lodged in Roy's intestines. `What the hell. Did he suck people off?' ''), Berry tracks the Gauthe case and his own sense of outrage. An angry attorney confronts Catholic bishops, who turn turtle; media outlets run away from the story; Berry hunts down experts on sexual deviation; more pedophilia cases emerge. One encouraging note sounds as Berry meets Michael Peterson, a benign, street-wise priest who runs a center for dysfunctional priests; sadly, Peterson later dies of AIDS. As the investigation proceeds, broader sexual issues emerge. Why are there so many homosexual priests? Where does priestly celibacy fit in? Here, Berry switches from reporter to crusader, launching an attack against Church views on sexuality that becomes a blast against Catholic traditionalism (``a medieval church turning its back on the church of the space age''). Looking at floundering seminaries, depressed parishes, and corruption in Newfoundland, Chicago, and N.Y.C. (where one priest, a tenured professor at CUNY, makes amateur porno films), Berry concludes that the Church is a ``dysfunctional family'' and argues for optional priestly celibacy. Despite the ``old church vs. new church'' political brief: superb investigative reporting. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (March 27, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252068122
• ISBN-13: 978-0252068126
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #289,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jason Berry's first novel, Last of the Red Hot Poppas, takes the reader on a ride through the corrupt and vibrant culture of southern Louisiana, which Berry has been reporting on for decades. This "spiritual comedy," as Berry calls it, borrows on the nove

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The picture is bigger than it looks, August 6, 2000

By 

Cathleen M. Walker "geminiwalker" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lead Us Not into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children (Paperback)

This book is amazing, tempered, and extremely credible. Jason Berry has taken a very difficult, emotional subject and made it readable, discernable, and a powerful statement about what happens when we fail to question authority.

Of particular interest to me was his reference to the House of Affirmation in Worcester, Mass., a self-proclaimed "treatment center" created and defined of the church, by the church, and for the church...an institution that self-destructed from its own corruption. The church determined whether or not a priest was "sick", what the "sickness" was, and whether or not they were "cured" and, therefore, "trustworthy". The "church" then decided when they were to be released to work again - to Catholic elementary schools, colleges and universties, Catholic Charities and surrounding parishes and Catholic camps.

When I originally wrote this review, information on The House was hard to find on the net. It's not now. Google it. And then hold them accountable! Our entire population continues to suffer from the ramifications of decisions made by the Catholic Church in the 1960s - children who grew up to become parents and others who acted out their trauma on others for generations. Not all did. Some were able to find credible treatment of their own and are speaking out. There are many, many more who passed their traumatization on, and/or became addicted to drugs and alcohol, lies, secrets and denial and/or self-destructed entirely. We cannot address this problem until it has been acknowledged in its entirety. Jason Berry opens the door. May it remain open until all the cobwebs have been cleared.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, February 1, 2001

By 

RUTH KRIEGER (SOUTHFIELD, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests And Sexual Abuse of Children (Paperback)

Jason Berry proves to be a true defender of the faith, an upstanding Catholic, unafraid to confront the moral decay running rampant in the Church today. Every statement is documented, proving its truth. This book is not an attempt to discredit the Church, but a compassionate understanding of the troubled Church and a serious attempt to make the Church confront its problems. Berry is not an author with a bone to pick. He is a sincere Catholic interested in seeing his Church live up to its full potential, eliminating views which lead "into temptation".

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The protection of an institution at the expense of children., November 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests And Sexual Abuse of Children (Paperback)

My family was from Lafayette and we often visited the area during the years that this book talks of. I even met one priest who was involved. Not only does this book give a clear picture of how community values ( which in any other situation would have been good ones) worked to protect the perpetrators of abuse, but it also shows how the self protective rules of the catholic church came down hard on the side of secrecy and evasiveness. I recall one of the more frightening passages talked about how canon law put the well being of the church above any incident. Unfortuneately the incident(s) was the rape of numerous children.