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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:  (15 reviews)
Sales Rank: 24184
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
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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| Customer Reviews:
 The Sign of Jonas. April 24, 2008
19 out of 19 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 5 found this review helpful
Very excellent. One of the best unbiased books on this subject. I rate this as a mature educated "cradle Catholic."
 Where's the proposals? March 24, 2008
7 out of 17 found this review helpful
I suspect that all thinking Catholics, at least in the New England area are well aware of the scandal(s). Mr. Lawler reviews the facts and points a few fingers but doesn't offer any real direction or solutions. Too many of the people and issues still exist. Unworthy Bishops are still in power or protected. The Bishop from Western Mass creeped away in the middle of the night and is living well outside the state. If her were to return to the stated he's be subject to arrest. Why is this allowed? A gay culture continues to thrive within some rectories and at St. John's Seminary. Too many people are still winking at the problem and looking the other way. What can we do?
good with caveats March 18, 2008
16 out of 32 found this review helpful
This is an excellent overview of the clergy-abuse scandal, specifically in the degree to which it documents and strongly condemns the corruption of the American hierarchy. But it's more ambitious, stepping back to take a wider view of how the Church has declined since the alleged 'good old days' before Vatican II when bishops had real clout. The truth is, as Lawler points out, the church was already ossifying from a lack of spiritual leadership among bishops that were too much caught up in the institution of the church as a secular corporation. In many ways the scandals that followed over the decades were predictable, if not inevitable.
The book suffers from a thin index and a complete lack of notes. Lawler is a veteran journalist, so I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. Nevertheless, right smack in the middle of the book he unloads a real howler, which I have to say is astonishing in someone who, according to the back book flap was "born and raised in the Boston area."
From p. 113, where Lawler is discussing the unpopularity of pro-life politicians running for office in Massachusetts, he writes:
"Shamie, Hyatt, McCarthy, and McNamara had something else in common: they were all pro-life Catholics. And in the Boston of the 1980s, who would come to the defense of a pro-life Catholic Republican? Neither political party was hospitable. The Globe was an implacable enemy, the Herald at best an inconstant friend. There were liberal op-ed columnists and talk-show hosts aplenty around the Boston area, whose intellectual hegemony was contested by a few feisty libertarians. There were two tradition-minded Jewish columnists (Don Feder and Jeff Jacoby), and a conservative Baptist (Joe Fitzgerald), but not a single prominent newspaper columnist or talk-show host who could plausibly be described as a Catholic conservative."
Huh?? I almost threw the book at the wall. You could ask Boston Globe op-ed columnist Ellen Goodman if she thought the late David J. Farrell --who was an op-ed columnist for the Globe from 1972 until November 1985-- could not plausibly be described as a Catholic conservative. You could also ask her colleague Joan Vennochi. Or Don Feder or Jeff Jacoby. Or Mike Barnicle. Dave Nyhan, RIP, isn't around, but he'd chime in too, if he could.
And David J. wasn't alone. David B. Wilson, who retired from the Globe just a year or so before Farrell left the paper (if I recall correctly), also wrote regularly against abortion among other things (although Wilson's a Protestant).
 NEEDS PROOFREADING March 12, 2008
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
This work, from a deeply invested observer, is well worth the read for anyone interested in making sense of the debacle served up by the ranks of American Catholic prelates over the past 30 years.
A small caveat: It provides a very conservative Catholic's view of the mess, and there is little patience displayed with things Catholic that arose post-1960.
This book deserved a much better editorial effort and a much more professional publishing house. Sadly, a reader often has to supply entire missing words, and re-reread whole passages to make sense of poorly punctuated text.
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