Summary
Title: Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal
Author: David France
Publisher: Broadway
ISBN: 0767914309
Pro:
• Highly readable prose style, even if subject matter is stomach-turning
• Copious (and chronological) notes on sources
Con:
• Melodramatic at times — good storytelling or just sensationalistic?
• Author provides little of his own perspective on the issue
Description:
• Chronological history of the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church
• Includes “cast of characters” to help keep everyone straight
Book Review
Quite a few books have been published on the sexual abuse scandal — it’s become a popular subject — but most of those seem to focus on the possible causes and what can be done to fix the situation. In contrast to such works, David France’s Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal is primarily about the people: the victims, the perpetrators, the families, and the bystanders. Presented in something like a journal format that makes readers feel almost like they are right there, France begins with events from 1953 and continues down through 2003.
All of the events are a matter of public record by now — there’s no genuine news here — but France’s telling makes them far more real and even more disturbing. Reading this book requires a strong stomach and an ability to handle descriptions of horrible crimes. As bad as all of them are, however, a reader may need an even stronger stomach to handle descriptions of the callous disrespect which the Catholic hierarchy had towards the victims and anyone who dared bring up the misdeeds of various priests.
This double hit is perhaps what has scandalized and harmed American Catholics the most. As much damage as the abusive priests have done, the fact that Catholic leaders covered for them, moved them around, enabled them to abuse even more children, and refused to take firm action against the abusers represented an even deeper betrayal of trust and authority.
Catholics all over America have had to confront their church and ask troubling questions: how could this have happened? Where did our church go wrong? Why did so many priests abuse so many children? France’s book provides a lot of interesting insights on such questions, offering readers a chance to peek into the rooms and minds of the chief actors who caused this scandal, the people victimized by it, and those who struggled valiantly to turn things around.
Although France shows no sympathy for the criminals, he does allow us to better understand them. Most came from the same generation of seminary students — students who were learning to be priests at a time when sex and sexuality were taboo topics. They had to find their own way and develop their own sexual identities in an environment that was downright pathological. One may justifiably wonder why more didn’t turn out badly. It is a sad situation for everyone all around.
Bottom Line
This is not a deep analysis of why the abuse occurred, why the cover-ups occurred, what could have been done to prevent it all, or what can be done in the future to make sure it never happens again. It is, instead, a history of events, people, and perspectives that make up the scandal. Some might call this superficial and such a criticism is not without merit; for any deeper analysis to be successful, however, we must first get a handle on just the material that France is offering us.
Rather than superficial, then, it is arguably fundamental — we must grasp the facts of what people did when, to whom, and how before we can move forward, and I don’t think that a more complete account either exists or will be written. At the same time, though, while France gives us a huge mound of pieces to the scandal, he himself doesn’t do much to help readers put them all together in a coherent or thematic manner. All we receive is a chronological ordering of them — if we want a substantial structuring of them, we have to do that ourselves.
