Over the past few years, a relentless crescendo of revelations about Catholic priests molesting children has riveted the nation’s attention and raised urgent, previously unthinkable questions: Just how widespread is child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy? Why hasn’t the Catholic church done more to stop it?
In A Gospel of Shame, authors Elinor Burkett and Frank Bruni provide the answers, which turn out to be infuriating and heartbreaking, difficult to accept but impossible to dismiss. The authors painstakingly document and vividly detail dozens of cases across the country and reveal how this heinous abuse of trust has been tacitly sanctioned by the Church’s silence. It is essential reading — not just for clergy and laity, but for anyone concerned about the welfare of children and the forces that lead to their victimization.
Now in paperback for the first time, this edition of A Gospel of Shame includes a new introduction and afterword by the authors which addresses the point that these new instances of sexual abuse, now more than ever, need to be seen as a crime, not a sin.