This multidisciplinary collection of essays aims to supplement a simplistic and reductive approach to understanding the abuse of minors in the Catholic Church by bringing together a range of perspectives and expertise drawing principally from psychiatry, cultural sociology, theology, as well as civic and canon law. The book comprises eight stand-alone chapters, reading something like a panel presentation where each author offers their viewpoint without referencing the others’ work. The result is a book lacking a coherent argument or consensus about root causes or key solutions. The editors explain this is by design, given their intention to “review the problem and its context from the neutral grounds of science, theology, and legal studies” (2). The naïve presumption that these fields are neutral—to say nothing of how this ignores a justice-based argument calling for this kind of scholarship to adopt a “preferential option” by centering the survivors of clergy sexual abuse—gives the reader an indication of how this project is framed and why it falls short of being a reliable and helpful guide.
Aside from these and other problematic approaches to the topic, a number of chapters deliver questionable content. For example, the opening chapter rehearses data on sexual orientation to explore a possible link between homosexuality and sexual abuse. It should be noted that the vast majority of studies find that gay men are no more likely to abuse than heterosexual men and that most clergy abusers are “generalists” who chose victims based on access, not sexual attraction. Here and in other chapters of the book, there is a failure to recognize that sexual abuse is often more about power than lust; the reason so many young males were abused is because they were altar servers, active around the parish (in the choir or sports leagues), or prospective or current seminarians. Despite ample evidence of this, the author proposes as “risk-management recommendations” that diocesan priests should be allowed to marry, women should be eligible for ordination, and married persons should be included in church hierarchy and participate in policy-making (37). This fails to adequately address the prominence of clericalism, toxic cultures in seminary formation, and other measures to dismantle the beliefs and practices that protected perpetrators (e.g., by moving them from one parish to another) and silenced or otherwise discredited survivors and their advocates. One inadequate approach to this topic could be overlooked if not for a later chapter dedicated to the “puzzling correlation” between sexual abuse of minors and clerical homosexuality that ultimately concludes “we do not really know to what extent which causal factors are responsible” for the abuse of children (232). If I were a survivor of clergy sexual abuse reading this text, I would be tempted to wonder why so much ink must be spilled to reach such tentative and vague conclusions when, a few lines later, the author admits, “A lot of work is still to be done to seek justice for the victims and to minimize the risk of future abuse” (232). This would have made for a better focus for the book and resulted in a more valuable resource for those seeking to better understand the problem; the psychological, spiritual, ecclesial, moral, and social fallout; and what steps toward healing entail.
Clergy sexual abuse is a profound betrayal of sacred trust and power. The ripple effects of harm extend from the individual to the interpersonal to the institutional levels of being church. This book makes a minor contribution: where it shines a light on lessons we can learn from the past, all must take heed; where it falls short, it signals to academics and students, church officials and pastoral ministers—ordained, vowed, and laity alike—how much work remains. The abuse of minors is not a problem of the past and does little to help us better understand the causes and effects of the abuse of adults, which continues today. There is still much more research and writing to be done to advance the transparency, accountability, and prevention that are often promised but rarely delivered. This anthology fills in some gaps and points to evidence of needed ecclesial reforms to ensure the church can be a safe space for all. May it spur a wave of new and better scholarship from all parts of the globe.
