Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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".

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.

This is truly a can't-put-down book about the current crisis in the Catholic Church--priest abuse of children. Jason's book was written before the present crisis that erupted in 2002, but it gives solid background of other priest-pedophile cases dating back 30 years or so.

Jason is not content to just quote other sources--books, newspapers, magazines--as others have done concerning this scandal. He actually went and interviewed the priests, bishops, parents, and most importantly, the victims. He doesn't just state the facts, which could become boring, but he has the gift of writing that made me feel that I was actually there, seeing and hearing what he was seeing and hearing.

Nothing else got done in my house for over a week because I was so wrapped up in his true characters and his gritty, gutsy reporting style. This is not a book for the faint of heart, and Jason does not pull any punches in his investigative reporting. He proves himself vulnerable, however, as he revealed that he cried with victims and became angry with the system that let this abuse be a continual event. He remains a Catholic as I am because he feels that there is still hope that the Catholic Church can correct itself and become what Jesus meant it to be. I feel the same way.

The Catholic hierarchy is shown as more caring about the male buddy system than they are about our children who need our protection. The guilty priests, who should have been defrocked and turned over to the authorities, were nonchalantly transferred to other parishes with no warning to other parishes about the new priest in their midst and his dangerous, dark side.

Jason's writing is powerful and real. When I read the part about a man who became terrified because he felt that the devil was after him after he had talked to a pedophile priest, that terror transferred itself to me. It was 2 a.m. and I had been unable to stop reading Jason's book. I needed to go downstairs to get my medicine, but I was afraid to do so. My house alarm had been on so I knew that no BODY was in the house, but I felt the same evil that Jason's character had felt. It was as though an evil menace was there in the room with me. I knew that this menace did not want me to read Jason's book and thereby learn about all the evil that had been buried in the Catholic Church for so many years and that Jason's reporting was now bringing to the light.

Fortunately, the terror did not last long. A beautiful peace soon settled over me, and I knew that a protective Presence had entered my room, dispersing the evil menace. This loving Presence wanted me to continue reading Jason's book so that I would be knowledgeable and would be prepared for necessary changes that I believe the Holy Spirit will make in the Catholic Church.

Thank you, Jason, for a remarkable book and all your labor that went into it. I do not know you but I feel that I do. Keep up the good work.

This book kept me up so many nights - I would find myself awake at 3 AM, forcing myself to put it down. The first third reads like a novel. A thriller, a mystery, a horror novel. All the more painful because it is true.

It became a more difficult read for me after the first third- because the names keep coming - becoming one long horrible blur of awful abuses of faith and spirit.

I wish this book could be required reading for Catholic parents- so that they don't miss the signs.

I have had first hand experience with priest sexual misconduct, so I have read much of the literature and have followed the present crisis closely. This is the best thing I have read. The best written and researched. Every Catholic should read this book about the present state of the priesthood. I know what he is saying is true, and I also know from my experience, but it still astounds me.

I found this book insightful, easy to read and to follow. The subject of this book, I feel, is not just a Catholic Church problem but it is also a society problem. Every child that has been abused by a priest, teacher, doctor or parent is spiritually and emotionally wounded. Unfortunitely without treatment the abuse will affect every aspect of their life in one way or another. What is so totally mind blowing is the fact that a Church who's only reason for existence is to teach about Jesus and his message of right and wrong, has chosen to, instead, protect the business side of the church and left thousands of children to blow in the wind by protecting the crimes of their representatives, the priests who abuse. And by doing so has allowed even more children to be abused over and over. I would highly recommend any adult to read this book and realize that a child does not lie about abuse to get attention and a lot of the time can not bring themselves to talk about their abuse for many years and sometime that means even into late adulthood. And even though the church says it's just about receiving money it is more about justice and protecting the innocents of all children present and future. An excellent well balanced book that you can't put down no matter how disurbing you fine the subject.

The heartbreaking story of Mark Brooks and the University of San Diego is especially poignant. I went to the University of San Diego in the time period when Mark Brooks went there, and even tutored Mark in English. I was sexually assaulted by a faculty member at the university, and no one did a thing about him, though I reported the rape. No one cared, I was blamed for the assault, and treated very much like Mark. All that Jason Berry describes about the seminary and the university in the 1980s is absolute truth--the Church not only protected the priests who slept with student seminarians, but also faculty members who engaged in out-of-control sexual harrassment of all shades. I wandered like a zombie in my life for TWENTY YEARS before dealing with the post-traumatic stress and returning to college to earn an advanced degree. The impact on my career, my family life, and my emotional wellness was devastating beyond human belief. A well-balanced account that captures the destructiveness and secrecy around this heartbreaking issue.

Jason Berry's expose of pedophiles hiding behind the title of 'Reverend,' is a necessary read. As Berry digs deep into pedophile activity within Church ranks, he brings to light, the devasting effects on hundreds of victims, the Heirarchy's pretended ignorance of the criminal aspects, and the Church's benigh attempts to help their troubled priests.
Berry's own Catholic background serves as a research tool. The author sticks to legal court proceedings, strives to be fair to both the Church and the victims, and gives recognition to the many decent and dismayed priests who assisted in his research.

This book, educating us about child abuse by Priests of the Roman Catholic Church is not only an "eye opener" but confirms what everyone should know and that is that the Roman Catholic Church is only concerned with money, power and control. If Jesus were here right now, He would kick Ass starting with the Pope and all the way down through the entire Hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. Having been born born and raised a Roman Catholic I now celebrate the fact that I am no longer a part of that institution. This is not religion. This is filth and corruption to the highest degree.