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Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, And The Era Of Catholic Scandal (2013)

by Michael D'Antonio(Favorite Author)

3.05 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1250034396 (ISBN13: 9781250034397)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Thomas Dunne Books

review 1: I had to take this book in sections because I was so bothered by the response by law enforcement and the church. I was raised as a Catholic, went to an all girls Catholic high school and dropped away from the church once I graduated high school. As a 5th grader I was slapped out of my seat by a nun for supposedly talking when we were told to be quiet; the reality was that the boy next to me was trying to get me to talk and be in trouble and all I was doing was shaking my head trying to get him to stop. Next thing I knew I was on the floor with my face stinging. I got back up in my seat, clamped my jaw and refused to give "that woman" the satisfaction of seeing me cry. She was never a "nun" to me from that minute forward and from that moment on I saw nothing special in... more these women in their heavy black dresses and belts with the rosaries hanging down. In fact, once I was detailed to go and help clean the convent and there were shelves and shelves in a storeroom stocked with cigarettes and alcohol for them. Here they were preaching goodness and purity and then going home to get loaded and blow smoke rings.Reading this book brought that back to me in it's entirety and ignited feelings I thought I had long ago resolved. It is very clear now, reading this book, that nothing has changed in the Catholic culture and I doubt it ever will. You will rarely see a "nun" these days and if you do they expect you to defer to them because they wear a giant cross around their neck in their street clothes) as the women's cultural revolution has informed our thinking and makes female celibacy pretty much outdated; apparently the church is also having trouble getting men to commit to celibacy as well and those that do probably have their little "vacations" from it when they can. It seems now that what the Catholic church is most concerned with now is the money that extort from their parishes so they can maintain their palatial residences, satin and gold outfits, etc. If you are reading this and are a religious-minded person I have nothing against that or you; I consider myself a pragmatist now and dealing with life day to day on earth instead of worrying about what will come when I am "dust".
review 2: D'Antonio's account seems to cover the ground fairly. He takes great pains to humanize those who have striven for the rights of the victims. He engages vivid writing about personal failings for them rather than the clergy. If the hierarchy appears cold, remote, and self-absorbed, that is hardly the author's fault, but an accurate portrait from life. The author has the sense not to spend too much effort on his own outrage, or in repeated descriptions of what the victims suffered. As is noted, the real story lies not the in individual acts by individual priests, which the defenders of the church hasten to assert are committed by all sorts of other people, too. The outrage comes from the institution's response. Although it is not mentioned here, the story of Penn State offers instructive parallels. The hierarchy shows itself no nobler, no more oriented to a higher standard than a football program bent on exploiting unpaid athletes. Instead, the familiar sense of protecting the institution and its privileged at the cost of compounding the destruction of its most defenseless adherents remains. D'Antonio's book is good reportage, a bulletin from a struggle that seems hardly finished. less

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