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The first book to expose how the Catholic Church systematically covers up scandal by moving abusers across borders.
Clerical sexual abuse is as global as the Roman Catholic Church, with bishops moving credibly accused priests not simply between parishes but also across international borders. Unforgivable follows the movement of one such perpetrator from the Great Plains of central Minnesota to the Indigenous highlands of Guatemala, where this priest had access to children and even raised one as his own.
Although Father David Roney is at the center of this particular story, author Kevin Lewis O'Neill offers ample evidence that offshoring priests is a common practice. These maneuvers and the callous indifference of the Church—even once caught red-handed—reveal the limits of justice. They also lay bare the disturbing fact that the scale of clerical sexual abuse is far bigger than anyone has yet considered. Rigorously researched and viscerally important, this book raises urgent questions about holding the Catholic Church accountable.
Clerical sexual abuse is as global as the Roman Catholic Church, with bishops moving credibly accused priests not simply between parishes but also across international borders. Unforgivable follows the movement of one such perpetrator from the Great Plains of central Minnesota to the Indigenous highlands of Guatemala, where this priest had access to children and even raised one as his own.
Although Father David Roney is at the center of this particular story, author Kevin Lewis O'Neill offers ample evidence that offshoring priests is a common practice. These maneuvers and the callous indifference of the Church—even once caught red-handed—reveal the limits of justice. They also lay bare the disturbing fact that the scale of clerical sexual abuse is far bigger than anyone has yet considered. Rigorously researched and viscerally important, this book raises urgent questions about holding the Catholic Church accountable.
Price: $29.95
Pages: 280
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
25 February 2025
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780520409118
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
"A moving look at a disturbing failure of religious mores."
— Publishers Weekly
— Publishers Weekly
Kevin Lewis O’Neill is Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion as well as in the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto. A cultural anthropologist, his work focuses on the moral dimensions of contemporary political practice in Latin America. His previous books include City of God, Secure the Soul, and Hunted.
Contents
Preface
I. A Priest Forever, 1945–1987
II. Becoming Deviant, 1987–1994
III. A Town without Pedophilia, 1994–2003
IV. At the Margins of Victimhood, 2003–2017
V. The Will to Survive, 2017–2023
Postscript
Acknowledgments
Reading Group Guide
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Preface
I. A Priest Forever, 1945–1987
II. Becoming Deviant, 1987–1994
III. A Town without Pedophilia, 1994–2003
IV. At the Margins of Victimhood, 2003–2017
V. The Will to Survive, 2017–2023
Postscript
Acknowledgments
Reading Group Guide
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index