http://www.amazon.com/Mortal-Sins-Crime-Catholic-Scandal/dp/0312594895/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0
In the mid-1980s a dynamic young monsignor assigned to the Vatican’s embassy in Washington criss-crossed America to investigate the problem of pedophile priests. At every stop he found secret files revealing complaints that had been hidden from police and covered-up by the hierarchy. He also understood that the US judicial system was eager to punish offenders and those who aided them. He presented all this to the American bishops, warning that the church could be devastated by scandal and bankrupted by its legal liability. They ignored him.
Meanwhile, a young lawyer listened to a new client describe an abusive sexual history with a priest that began when he was ten years-old. His parents’ complaints were downplayed by Church officials who offered them money to go away. He saw a claim that any defendant would want to settle. Then he began to suspect he was onto something bigger, involving thousands of priests who had abused countless children while the church had done almost nothing about it. The lawsuit he filed would touch-off a legal war of historic and global proportions.
Part history, part journalism, and part true-crime thriller, Mortal Sins promises to strike the same chords as All President’s Men, The Informant, and As the Band Played On as it reveals a long and ferocious battle for the soul of the largest and oldest organization in the world.
An explosive, sweeping account of the pedophile scandal that has sent the Catholic church into a tailspin and the fight to bring it to justice
Pub Alert!
MORTAL SINS receives its third starred trade review, this time from Kirkus:
“The author weaves a captivating tale of legal drama set against the backdrop of an intransigent ecclesiastical hierarchy. The real-life characters of the story range from colorful to tragic; flamboyant lawyers, alcoholic clerics and activist abuse survivors all help make the story a true page-turner. Yet, while entertaining as a work of legal drama, readers are struck on every page by the horror behind the history. D’Antonio presents the terrible facts of underage sexual abuse, though without making his work prurient. He conveys, however, a double tragedy. Molestation and rape are bad enough, but when coupled with an institutional and almost universal disregard for the victim by church officials, the book becomes an ethical commentary on a grand scale… Riveting and fascinating—sure to serve future generations well as they look back on this era.”
Previously:
Booklist gives MORTAL SINS a starred review in their March 15th issue!
“Doyle and Anderson are the two most prominent heroes of D’Antonio’s superlatively readable overview of the ongoing, now-global crisis of priestly sex abuse… this landmark work of recent history remains gripping and affecting to the last word.”
PW- Boxed and starred review!
