The Silence We Keep: A Nun's View of the Catholic Priest Scandal [Hardcover]

Karol Jackowski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2004

A Catholic nun speaks out about her life and vocation, women in the Church, the sexual scandal in the priesthood, why the Catholic hierarchy won’t fix it, and how Catholics will take back their Church.

Karol Jackowski joined the sisterhood forty years ago and remains a devout Catholic, but she is also an activist who now considers the reformation of the Church to be a part of her calling. In The Silence We Keep, she takes an honest look at the priesthood throughout history and reveals a culture of privilege and sexual permissiveness that is as old as the Church itself. She turns a critical eye on a spirituality that she describes as hypocritical in its condemnation of the sins of others, while far worse behavior is perpetrated by the condemners. She also discusses the sisterhood and its culture of submissiveness to the male clergy, a passivity that has prevented a system of checks and balances that could have stopped the abuse.

The Silence We Keep is hard-hitting in its frank discussion of the Church, but ultimately Sister Karol’s message is an uplifting and empowering call to action for all believers to seize upon this historic opportunity, break a centuries-old silence, and take back the Catholic Church.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Inspired by an article the author was asked to write for Rosie magazine, this book is a first effort at a more serious work for Jackowski, whose previous books have been lighter in tone (Sister Karol's Book of Spells and Blessings and Ten Fun Things to Do Before You Die). Here, she presents some cogent ideas about why the Catholic Church faces a sex-abuse scandal of mammoth proportions, but unfortunately, her threads of truth get tangled up in the presentation. Jackowski's evidence to support her claims is often anecdotal, or based on anonymous or secondary sources. For example, she backs her claim that few priests practice celibacy by citing a study showing 30 percent of priests to be sexually active, adding, "Some critics and seminarians, and most sisters I asked, felt the numbers should be doubled." Although she sees celibacy as a culprit, Jackowski acknowledges its inherent value and long tradition in many religions. She suggests it should not be required, noting that even St. Paul did not impose it on the early church. Forced celibacy, she writes, has been especially oppressive to men, causing them to act out their sexuality inappropriately. By contrast, she paints female religious celibates bound by the same constraints as liberated. Thus, Jackowski sees an opening of the priesthood to women on the horizon along with a renewal of "sisterhood" and a "New Pentecost" for her church. Readers will sense her passion even if they do not agree with her conclusions or methodology.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Although much has been recently written about the sexual abuse scandals that have plagued the contemporary Roman Catholic Church, one significant constituency has remained conspicuously mum. Breaking the code of silence that has been bred into nuns over the course of centuries, Sister Karol Jackowski speaks out, condemning the "culture of privilege and sexual permissiveness" that has culminated in such widespread clerical abuse. Tracing the historical roots of the spiritual hypocrisy that has paved the way for generations of self-serving priests, she also admonishes, in gentler terms, both the nuns and the laypersons whose unquestioning submissiveness to the "superior" male clergy contributed to the conspiracy of silence that initially shrouded and protected a large cadre of sexual predators. After tracing the evolution of both the priesthood and the sisterhood, she also makes a tremendous leap of faith by arguing that the overdue acknowledgment of these physical and spiritual crimes will eventually revitalize believers, foreshadowing a rebirth of Catholicism. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harmony; 1st edition (March 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400050553
• ISBN-13: 978-1400050550
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A BRAVE, HONEST EXPLANATION!!, March 10, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Silence We Keep: A Nun's View of the Catholic Priest Scandal (Hardcover)

I thought that the hard work and thought given to this "expose" made it an honest interpretation of the present crisis in the Catholic Church. One certainly knows how this nun feels about it, and that is very refreshing. It is also a "good read".

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SISTER 'RIGHT ON' -- keep writing; keep talking, April 14, 2007

By 

C. Cruz "Amazonian" (Putnam County, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Silence We Keep: A Nun's View of the Catholic Priest Scandal (Hardcover)

Karol Jackowski has been an ordained nun since 1964. The topic is pedophilia in the Priesthood, ONE book written by ONE nun. This is why I picked up the book, but I kept on reading because its REFRESHING & MODERN.

If you think you're not part of the problem read on:

A company found out several Employees represented the company, went out and had sex with children/minors on company grounds and off-site. Do you think the company would a: WAIT FOR PUBLIC OUTRAGE TO REACH DEAFENING PROPORTIONS b: STAY SILENT EVEN THOUGH THE PARENTS ALONG WITH THE CHILDREN ARE FILING PUBLIC CLAIMS c: DEFEND THE EMPLOYEES WITH A COMPANY ATTORNEY AT NO CHARGE TO THE EMPLOYEES BY CLOSING THEIR DAYCARE/YOUTH PROGRAMS d: TAKE THE CASE TO THE NEXT STOCK-HOLDERS MEETING e: NONE OF THE ABOVE.

All may be plausible, but any business executive would know "e" is the best choice because the company is at risk through no fault of their own. It would contend these employees acted on their own behalf, put their own needs above the welfare of the company and did something that was not company approved nor part of the company's policy to conduct business. It was a personal matter. A personal matter that is morally wrong and a crime. So the action would have to be swift and immediate to limit company damage and to avoid liability. Every single one would be handed over on a silver platter to the proper authorities: arrested, charged and a trial date set.

To have these Employees represented by a company attorney would be INSANITY, to close facilities that benefit the community for the sake of these few individuals that acted on their own behalf would be FATAL for the business. To do both would ensure public BACKLASH and would leave the company with an image that its UNFIT to conduct business in a responsible tone. This would leave the company open for a takeover, to be boycotted (possible bankruptcy/foreclosure) to overhaul from the top down to the bottom to insure it doesn't happen again.

Now go back, plug in 'Church' and their course of actions. It doesn't add up. Why would they put the entire Church not only in such a light, but in such liability? Any other religion could pick up the fallout (and many have) and anyone can see what they are doing does not further their teachings or the teachings of God, what is moral or what is just in God-fearing Christians. So...the only conclusion we can reach is either they are unfit for the teachings of Theology (their 'business') or they must be overhauled from top to bottom. The Church is not going to dissolve though it may wither away if it continues on its course and there are not religious 'take-overs'. The Church appearance of INSANITY is a reflection of society's INSANITY in truth about incest, rape and pedophilia.

Still it takes great courage to navigate through adulthood after being sexually abused and have enough strength & self-esteem to stand up in public and tell the world 'this is what he/she did to me and I want him/her held accountable for their actions' in front of your family, peers, community for all to see. Some have waited 10, 20 even 30 years to bring these pedophiles to justice. Those convicted are not Priests, but pedophiles...serial pedophiles. I believe many of us are just opening our eyes, cleaning out our ears and speaking out for the first time. The time has come for ALL WOMEN to take their rightful places in all faucets of life right next to the men who deserve to be in those places. NOT next to the men who think they are above the Law, God and the universe.

Thank you Ms. Karol Jackowski, Mr. John O'Donohue (claims the Church wouldn't last 3 months if the women walked out)and so many OTHERS who believe to SPEAK OUT AND BREAK THE SILENCE is the most RADICAL we can get in order to stop incest, rape & pedophilia. We are against injustice. We stand for the victims not the perpetrators who commit incest, rape and pedophilia.

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on the Church i've read in years, September 25, 2006

By 

al rotundo (Niagara Falls NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silence We Keep: A Nun's View of the Catholic Priest Scandal (Paperback)

A GREAT book. And the author is no apologist. She traces the Church's troubles back to St. Augustine, and his fear and vilification of women, she adresses sex in the Church openly and straightforwardly, and she points to a hopeful future, wherein the laity takes back the Church from the clergy. The history of religion is a long line of splits and divisions; if the American Catholic Church broke off from Rome, sanctioning birth control, and allowing priests to marry, where would your loyalties lie? This book also contains what might be the most powerful single line I have ever read: "The only problem in the world today is we have lost the ability to look upon our fellow human beings, and see the face of God." 5 bright shining stars, not to be missed.