Overview
A meticulously researched inside look at child sexual abuse by clergy, this exhaustive, hard-hitting analysis weaves together interviews with abusive priests and church historical and administrative details to propose a new way of thinking about clerical sexual offenders. Linking the personal and the institutional, researcher and therapist Marie Keenan locates the problem of child sexual abuse not exclusively in individual pathology, but also within larger systemic factors, such as the very institution of priesthood itself, the Catholic take on sexuality, clerical culture, power relations, governance structures of the Catholic Church, the process of formation for priesthood and religious life, and the complex manner in which these factors coalesce to create serious institutional risks for boundary violations, including child sexual abuse. Keenan draws on the priests' own words not to excuse their horrific crimes, but to offer the first in-depth account of a tragic, multi-faceted phenomenon. What emerges is a troubling portrait of a Church in crisis and a series of recommendations that call for nothing less than a new ecclesiology and a new, more critical theology. Only through radical institutional reform, Keenan argues, can a more representative and accountable Church emerge. Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church is a unique reference for scholars of the Church and therapists who work with both victims and offenders, as well as a forward-thinking blueprint for reform.
Full Product Details
Author: Marie Keenan (Researcher and Lecturer, Researcher and Lecturer, School of Applied Social Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland)
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 23.90cm
, Height: 3.10cm
, Length: 16.50cm
Weight: 0.646kg
ISBN: 9780199895670
ISBN 10: 0199895678
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 29 September 2011
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
a must-read for thinking Catholics who are sincere in their attempts to find a way through the current crisis in the Church Studies - An Irish Quarterly Review
<br> Dr. Keenan is to be congratulated on this timely and scholarly study, conducted primarily through interviews with offender and non-offender clergy, which begins the crucial process of helping us to understand, but not forgive, such behavior. Her thesis that the behavior of abusive clergy can only be understood in the context of the responses of the hierarchy of the Church provides a sociological analysis that conveys important lessons for academics, policymakers, and therapeutic practitioners. -Nick Gould, PhD, Professor of Social Work, University of Bath<p><br> This book significantly raises the level of debate on these issues in Ireland and, indeed, throughout the world. Dr. Keenan's familiarity with the literature, her therapeutic work with victims and offenders, her dialogue with so many interested parties, and her acute sensitivity to the many personal, social, cultural, and organizational issues involved, make this book a must for all directly involved or seriously interested. I recommend it very highly. -Rev. Enda McDonagh, DD, DCL, Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology, St. Patrick's College, Maynooth<p><br> Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church provides a superb analysis of the individual and systemic explanations of clergy abuse in Ireland and around the world. Marie Keenan's work as a treatment provider for child sexual abusers has led to a decade of in-depth research on the abusers and the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. This is a must-read for any academic studying the sexual abuse of children in Church or organizations where adults develop mentoring and nurturing relationships with children and adolescents. -Karen J. Terry, PhD, Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York<p><br> The scope of Dr. Keenan's analysis is wide-ranging and her conclusions are startling but not surprising. Dr. Keenan has produced a balanced, scholarly, deeply humanistic, and thought-provoking book that is sure to make a maj
<br> Dr. Keenan is to be congratulated on this timely and scholarly study, conducted primarily through interviews with offender and non-offender clergy, which begins the crucial process of helping us to understand, but not forgive, such behavior. Her thesis that the behavior of abusive clergy can only be understood in the context of the responses of the hierarchy of the Church provides a sociological analysis that conveys important lessons for academics, policymakers, and therapeutic practitioners. -Nick Gould, PhD, Professor of Social Work, University of Bath<p><br> This book significantly raises the level of debate on these issues in Ireland and, indeed, throughout the world. Dr. Keenan's familiarity with the literature, her therapeutic work with victims and offenders, her dialogue with so many interested parties, and her acute sensitivity to the many personal, social, cultural, and organizational issues involved, make this book a must for all directly involved or seriously intereste
Author Information
Marie Keenan, PhD, is a Researcher and Lecturer at the School of Applied Social Science, University College Dublin, and a member of the Advisory Board of the UCD Institute of Criminology. She is Chairperson of the Family Therapy Association of Ireland and a registered psychotherapist who has worked for over twenty years with survivors and perpetrators of sexual crime and their families, in community and forensic settings.
