Reviewed by Thomas Doyle
A number of books have been written about sexual abuse by Catholic clerics. Some are the gut-wrenching stories of victims themselves, told in their own words or through another. Some are polemical in that they confront the official Church for its hypocritical response while demanding both recognition and action to help solve the problem. Still others are scholarly ventures into the mysterious depths of this unique socio-cultural phenomenon by academics from a variety of disciplines. All are seeking answers as to “why.” The answers are much more complex and elusive than simply saying “celibate priests are sexually dysfunctional” or “bishops only want to protect their turf.” Both are true statements but there are many more “whys.”
Joe Rigert is an investigative journalist with an uncanny ability to ask the right questions and a tireless capacity to find the answers. With An Irish Tragedy he has moved into territory not yet explored by those seeking answers, namely the ethnic component to clergy abuse. The Irish clergy are natural subject of inquiry. I must admit that I underestimated and undervalued the causal relationship between the Irish Catholic culture and the fact that a significant number of clergy abusers in the U.S. are either Irish immigrants or of Irish descent. The author did much more than simply provide a well documented exposition of sexual abuse by Irish priests in the U.S. He went to Ireland to look at the roots and in doing so he became immersed in the Irish expression of Catholicism, especially the rather bizarre brand of sexual morality.
An Irish Tragedy is an apt title for this book because it describes precisely the end result of the continuum of excessive and superstitious piety, toxic clerical control and a twisted sexual morality which has all converged into too many cases of sexual abuse of minors and deceitful cover-up by bishops.
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