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| The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture | 
 enlarge | Author: Philip F. Lawler
Publisher: Encounter Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (13 reviews)
Sales Rank: 18616
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 280
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 1594032114
Dewey Decimal Number: 282.74461
EAN: 9781594032110
ASIN: 1594032114
Publication Date: February 11, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Faithful Departed traces the rise and fall of the Catholic Church in Boston, showing how the Massachusetts experience set a pattern that echoed throughout the United States as religious institutions lost influence in the face of rising secularization. The collapse of Catholicism in Boston became apparent with the explosion of the sex-abuse crisis. Lawler shows that the sex-abuse scandal was neither the cause nor the beginning of Catholicism's decline in Boston.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Thoughtful, well researched June 6, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Well written, well researched and carefully thought out book proposing the hypothesis that the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church was only the most visible manifestation of a general malaise in moral leadership among the hierarchy.
I would have liked footnotes to many of the assertions in the book.
An Accomplished Book of Horrors May 7, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was not familiar with the political flavor of Boston Catholicism described in this book, but now I understand the development of underlying culture of deceit that enabled the attitude of "keeping quiet." Americans for the most part are law abiding members of society, and what really disgusts me is that this trait of "protection of the bishop" is pandemic across the US in many Catholic diocese's.
The most telling sentence of the book is on the back cover where a conservative bishop tells "the road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops." That told by St. John of the Cross who had his own problems with bishops in his native Spain nearly a thousand years ago.
In my own case, I grew up with a priest who was elevated to the episcopacy and now retired but is embroiled in a abuse case back in his home town. I personally don't think he did it, but then one has to ask, how many priests are guilty of abuse and are not fingered...and, how many are not-guilty of anything but are being charged anyway.
Mr. Lawler doesn't make a distinction between guilty or not, but he does write a compelling expose' of the catholic church in the US. The real problem is that he thinks the problem is still among us with the bishops not learning from Cardinal Law's mistakes. In fact, he tells tales of other "princes of the church" who are still part of the problem. I believe that pressure has to come from the "pew Catholic" in this matter, according to the book, the Vatican is neither unable to or impotent in this problem. I suspect, the Vatican is afraid of loosing its most financial prosperous givers to the till.
A great read and I wish more expose's would come forth.
Boston as Epicenter of Sexual Abuse Scandal May 2, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have read many publications attempting to highlight the cause(s) of the wide-spread sexual abuse of children and teens by the Catholic clergy, but this book is particularly interesting in that it is a long-range examination of this using the Boston Archdiocese as the epicenter. This book proposes there were numerous "fault lines" that gradually led to conditions that permitted this horror to continue and grow. It also dissects the reponse of the American Bishops to the scandal. I highly recommend this to all, but particularly to Bostonians, Bishops and Catholic clergy.
The Sign of Jonas. April 24, 2008
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I almost hesitate to recommend this book, since reading it was like tearing open a psychic scab. Still, I think that anyone who cares about the Catholic Church should acquire and read this, what I can only characterize as a masterpiece.
It is not simply a re-encapsulation of the scandal that broke in 2002-2003. Rather, it is an incisive history and analysis of the culture American Catholic Church entire, focused on the Arch Diocese of Boston as an archetypal case study.
Lawler's essential thesis is that the pedophilia scandals that are now scourging the Church are only symptoms of a deeper malaise, one that is rooted in the "suburbanization" of Catholic culture, and it's loss of focus. Instead of of hewing to her ancient prophetic charism, her essential mission of evangelizing and sanctifying, the Church has lost its way. And this didn't happen suddenly in 1968 or 2002. The tepidity and mediocrity began seeping in long ago, back when the Irish, Italian, French and German immigrants first began arriving here, and began attempting to fit into the American milieu.
It's now reached the point that most American Catholics - to include most of our bishops and priests - now conceive of the Church as primarily a political and civic association, rather than a mystical entity with radical and essential moral & spiritual claims on us all. There is a distinct lack of urgency, and a tendency to relativize and abdicate all accountability when it comes to any difficult aspect of the Faith. Most notoriously, that of course means any teachings involving sexuality or gender, but even issues related to violence and economics are fudged away. It's all go along to get along, and what many refer to as "cafeteria Catholicism" is now firmly ensconced as the order of the day.
The recent scandals only rip the lid off the sepulcher. They only reveal who we, who our shepherds, have become. How compromised we all are. For even if only two thirds of our bishops have colluded to protect the 2 or 3% priests proven guilty of gross criminal sexual malfeasance (to the point of often engaging in what amounts to criminal conspiracy) they are only representative of most of the rest of us. Creatures of our culture of materialistic excess and sexual decadence.
So the bishops cannot hold themselves accountable. But neither, apparently, can we.
Re-reading Cardinal Law's correspondence with serial rapists such as Fathers Geoghan and Shanley is heart wrenching and soul numbing stuff. But nevertheless, I think it is salutary.
The bishops may have indeed "gotten away with it." Many of the most derelict ones (such as Roger Cardinal Mahoney) still hold their positions. Despite their irresponsibility. Despite all the scandal and bankruptcy, moral and otherwise. Most of them have kept their jobs, while holding the vast majority of innocent priests and engaged laity "accountable" with all their invasive background checks and sex ed programs.
With this book, Phil Lawler has given us a difficult, even brutal, yet profoundly needed self- examen. I say that if you care about the Church, you should buy and read this book.
And wonder if we do not have the bishops we deserve.
The Faithful Departed by Philip Lawler April 19, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Very excellent. One of the best unbiased books on this subject. I rate this as a mature educated "cradle Catholic."
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