A Review of the Book "A Gospel of Shame" by Frank Bruni & Elinor Burkett

Title: A Gospel of Shame

Author: Frank Bruni & Elinor Burkett

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers

Year: 1993

265 pages

From the Back: The relentless crescendo of revelations of sexual abuse in its Catholic churches has rocked the nations. Just how wide-spread is child sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy? And why hasn't the Catholic Church done more to stop it? Journalists Frank Bruni and Elinor Burkett provide the answers to these questions and more. The answers, however, turn out to be infuriating and heartbreaking, difficult to accept but impossible to dismiss. The authors thoroughly document dozens of cases across the country and reveal how this heinous abuse of trust has been tacitly sanctioned by the Church's silence. Containing unforgettable accounts of individual and institutional cover-ups, A Gospel of Shame will serve those who need and want an analysis of the scandal that is currently rocking the Catholic Church.

Personal Thoughts: The Catholic Church has a horrendous reputation. Very often, when people talk about Catholic priests, the conversation also includes the topic of child molestation and sexual abuse. I have heard these things for most of my life and became hyper aware of it the closer I got to becoming a priest myself. I wanted to know more about it and how things got this bad. I found A Gospel of Shame at a book fair and snatched it up.

    The book contains stories from survivors and their families, their lawyers, and anyone else brave enough to share their story. I will admit, it took me a very long time to read this book because of how personal the accounts were and how much detail was contained in these few pages. It became increasingly difficult to read about how the church, from top to bottom, covered up these events, and that the most common solution was to simply move the priests to different parishes while sweeping the sexual abuse under the rug.

    Bruni and Burkett did an amazing job of bringing forth these events with all the sensitivity they deserve while still being forthright with the unacceptable answers from the Catholic Church about the criminal events taking place within its walls. As difficult as the topic is to explore, I think it's important for the world to understand what happened and how the church worked so tirelessly to cover it up. Without that knowledge, there would be no way to fight for change.