Full Description
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.
Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims: The Sexual Abuse Crisis and the Catholic Church, 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, Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims 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.
Contents
Frawley-O'Dea, Preface: From the Bayou to Boston: History of a Scandal. Goldner, Introduction: The Catholic Sexual Abuse Crisis: Gender, Sex, Power, and Discourse. Part I: Predatory Priests.Frawley-O'Dea, Goldner, Abusive Priests: Who They Were and Were Not. Kochansky, Cohen, Priests Who Sexualize Minors: Psychodynamic, Characterological, and Clerical Considerations. Celenza, A Love Addiction: Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy with an Offending Priest. Part II: Victims and Survivors - The Clinical Picture.Frawley-O'Dea, Can You Imagine? Long-term Effects of Sexual Abuse. Gartner, Failed Fathers, Boys Betrayed. Part III: Victims and Survivors - Survivor's Stories.Dwyer, Surviving is What I Know. Father M., Severed Selves and Unbridged Truths. Lewis, Sexual Abuse, Spiritual Formation, and Psychoanalysis. Part IV: The Institutional Church and the Pastoral Church.Martin, How Could It Happen? An Analysis of the Catholic Church Abuse Scandal. Doyle, Clericalism and Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse. Richards, Clergy Sexual Misconduct: Episcopal and Roman Catholic Clergy. Ferguson, A Protestant Approach to Clergy Sexual Abuse. Smith, Women Priests and Clergy Sexual Misconduct. Gordon, The Priestly Phallus: A Study in Iconography. Walker, Celibacy and Misogyny. Jordan, The Confusion of Priestly Secrets.
