Lead Us Not into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children

By Jason Berry

Book Overview

This updated edition of an unusually important and ground-breaking work of investigative journalism on Catholic priests and child sexual abuse is once again made available and belongs in every bookstore.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0252068122
• ISBN13: 9780252068126
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Length: 440 Pages
• Weight: 1.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Remarkable Book by Remarkable Author

This is truly a can't-put-down book about the current crisis in the Catholic Church--priest abuse of children. Jason's book was written before the present crisis that erupted in 2002, but it gives solid background of other priest-pedophile cases dating back 30 years or so. Jason is not content to just quote other sources--books, newspapers, magazines--as others have done concerning this scandal. He actually went and interviewed the priests, bishops, parents, and most importantly, the victims. He doesn't just state the facts, which could become boring, but he has the gift of writing that made me feel that I was actually there, seeing and hearing what he was seeing and hearing. Nothing else got done in my house for over a week because I was so wrapped up in his true characters and his gritty, gutsy reporting style. This is not a book for the faint of heart, and Jason does not pull any punches in his investigative reporting. He proves himself vulnerable, however, as he revealed that he cried with victims and became angry with the system that let this abuse be a continual event. He remains a Catholic as I am because he feels that there is still hope that the Catholic Church can correct itself and become what Jesus meant it to be. I feel the same way.The Catholic hierarchy is shown as more caring about the male buddy system than they are about our children who need our protection. The guilty priests, who should have been defrocked and turned over to the authorities, were nonchalantly transferred to other parishes with no warning to other parishes about the new priest in their midst and his dangerous, dark side.Jason's writing is powerful and real. When I read the part about a man who became terrified because he felt that the devil was after him after he had talked to a pedophile priest, that terror transferred itself to me. It was 2 a.m. and I had been unable to stop reading Jason's book. I needed to go downstairs to get my medicine, but I was afraid to do so. My house alarm had been on so I knew that no BODY was in the house, but I felt the same evil that Jason's character had felt. It was as though an evil menace was there in the room with me. I knew that this menace did not want me to read Jason's book and thereby learn about all the evil that had been buried in the Catholic Church for so many years and that Jason's reporting was now bringing to the light.Fortunately, the terror did not last long. A beautiful peace soon settled over me, and I knew that a protective Presence had entered my room, dispersing the evil menace. This loving Presence wanted me to continue reading Jason's book so that I would be knowledgeable and would be prepared for necessary changes that I believe the Holy Spirit will make in the Catholic Church.Thank you, Jason, for a remarkable book and all your labor that went into it. I do not know you but I feel that I do. Keep up the good work.

Gripping, infuriating, heartbreaking.

This book kept me up so many nights - I would find myself awake at 3 AM, forcing myself to put it down. The first third reads like a novel. A thriller, a mystery, a horror novel. All the more painful because it is true.It became a more difficult read for me after the first third- because the names keep coming - becoming one long horrible blur of awful abuses of faith and spirit. I wish this book could be required reading for Catholic parents- so that they don't miss the signs.

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH

Jason Berry proves to be a true defender of the faith, an upstanding Catholic, unafraid to confront the moral decay running rampant in the Church today. Every statement is documented, proving its truth. This book is not an attempt to discredit the Church, but a compassionate understanding of the troubled Church and a serious attempt to make the Church confront its problems. Berry is not an author with a bone to pick. He is a sincere Catholic interested in seeing his Church live up to its full potential, eliminating views which lead "into temptation".

The picture is bigger than it looks

This book is amazing, tempered, and extremely credible. Jason Berry has taken a very difficult, emotional subject and made it readable, discernable, and a powerful statement about what happens when we fail to question authority. Of particular interest to me was his reference to the House of Affirmation in Worcester, Mass., a self-proclaimed "treatment center" created and defined of the church, by the church, and for the church...an institution that self-destructed from its own corruption. The church determined whether or not a priest was "sick", what the "sickness" was, and whether or not they were "cured" and, therefore, "trustworthy". The "church" then decided when they were to be released to work again - to Catholic elementary schools, colleges and universties, Catholic Charities and surrounding parishes and Catholic camps. When I originally wrote this review, information on The House was hard to find on the net. It's not now. Google it. And then hold them accountable! Our entire population continues to suffer from the ramifications of decisions made by the Catholic Church in the 1960s - children who grew up to become parents and others who acted out their trauma on others for generations. Not all did. Some were able to find credible treatment of their own and are speaking out. There are many, many more who passed their traumatization on, and/or became addicted to drugs and alcohol, lies, secrets and denial and/or self-destructed entirely. We cannot address this problem until it has been acknowledged in its entirety. Jason Berry opens the door. May it remain open until all the cobwebs have been cleared.

The protection of an institution at the expense of children.

My family was from Lafayette and we often visited the area during the years that this book talks of. I even met one priest who was involved. Not only does this book give a clear picture of how community values ( which in any other situation would have been good ones) worked to protect the perpetrators of abuse, but it also shows how the self protective rules of the catholic church came down hard on the side of secrecy and evasiveness. I recall one of the more frightening passages talked about how canon law put the well being of the church above any incident. Unfortuneately the incident(s) was the rape of numerous children.