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[email protected] Study every chancery should have and read ¾ ¾ By Deborah Gyapong TWO YEARS ago, the world learned former Cardinal The- odore McCarrick faced cred- ible accusations of sexually abusing underage boys. The Diocese of Metuchen and the Archdiocese of New- ark in New Jersey revealed secret settlements had been made in 2005 and 2007 with former seminarians that Mc- Carrick had preyed upon while he was the bishop in those dioceses. Somehow, despite revela- tions that several individu- als had made internal com- plaints about McCarrick as early as the 1990s, he rose to become archbishop of Wash- ington and a cardinal. The precipitous fall of one of America’s most prominent clerics was not, however, an isolated incident in 2018. It followed scandals of cler- ical abuse of seminarians by priests and bishops in Chile and in Honduras. In addition, as the McCa- rrick bombshell exploded, a Pennsylvania grand jury issued its report, cataloging years of horrendous clerical abuse dating back decades in six dioceses in that state. McCarrick has since been dismissed from the clerical state. Pope Francis also com- missioned a report to explain how someone with such a his- tory of sexual predation could have risen to such heights in the Catholic Church. Though the report is fin- ished, there is no word on if or when the pope will make it public. Those seeking answers, however, need not wait for the McCarrick report. An in- ternational group of Catholic scholars and experts from a range of disciplines have pro- duced their own comprehen- sive document titled Clerical Sexual Misconduct: An Inter- disciplinary Analysis . Edited by Jane Adolphe and Ronald Rychlak, it be- longs on the shelf of every chancery, seminary library and rectory. In September 2018, to re- spond to scandals in Chile, Honduras and the Unit- ed States, the International Centre on Law, Life, Faith and Family invited a group of international experts to a meeting at Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida, to discuss clerical sexual mis- conduct with males in the Catholic Church. This book is the fruit of that gathering. The volume is divided into four sections: Part one exam- ines church culture through the lens of the social sciences; part two looks at the cultural influences inside and outside the church that exacerbated the problem of clerical sexual abuse; part three takes a legal and policy perspective; and part four provides pastoral and theological reflections to guide the path forward. Clerical Sexual Miscon- duct examines the causes of the crisis, both inside and outside the Catholic Church, such as the role that cultural Marxism has played in un- dermining the family and sexual morality; the impact of the now-debunked Kinsey reports on human sexuality; and the pernicious theories of Wilhelm Reich that under- girded the sexual revolution of the 1960s. At the same time, seminar- ies began to shift from a tra- ditional approach to Catho- lic morality to a therapeutic, psychological model, among other internal shifts, the au- thors argue. The experts in this volume blast the prevailing notion the Catholic Church has suffered a paedophilia crisis when in fact rates of paedophilia are far lower in the church than in society at large and, unlike the society at large, the vast majority of the victims of cler- ical sexual abuse are adoles- cent males not females. The book explores the im- pact of changing views of homosexuality, including the propaganda of the so-called gay gene, and examines how modern interpretations of Scripture have tried to argue there is no New Testament basis for prohibitions against homosexual relationships. Clerical Sexual Misconduct reveals new analysis of data regarding the correlations of clerical sexual abuse on males with a concentration of homosexuals in the priest- hood. Sociologist Father Paul Sul- lins shows that fewer homo- sexuals have been ordained since 2000, and consequent- ly reports of sexual abuse against males also have gone down, indicating the wave that peaked in the 1970s has diminished and now receded. But Father Sullins warns the persistent but low level of abuse of girls remains “undi- minished.” Other studies of clerical sexual abuse and news re- ports have often blamed cler- icalism and the discipline of celibacy for the problem. Both issues are given a thor- ough analysis in the volume. Perhaps of most interest to chanceries will be the sec- tion on legal and policy mat- ters that looks at canon law, church structures, episcopal accountability, civil law and criminal law in relation to preventing abuse, punishing perpetrators and helping vic- tims. While comprehensive and packed with scholarly foot- notes, Clerical Sexual Mis- conduct offers an engrossing read, accessible to anyone who cares about cleansing the scourge of clerical sexual abuse from the church and in preventing its resurgence. The analysis is unsparing and multifaceted but at the same time hopeful. The last section of the book looks at ways the Catholic Church can recover her teaching on hu- man sexuality. It looks at the nature of manliness exemplified by Je- sus Christ and at the exam- ples set by the lives of saintly priests. It also advocates renewal of a Scripture-based moral- ity that includes the Marian dimension and the power of the Holy Spirit to make living a holy, loving, chaste life pos- sible. Clerical Sexual Misconduct: An Interdisciplinary Analysis, edited by Jane F. Adolphe and Ronald J. Rychlak. Cluny Media (Providence, Rhode Island, 2020). 480 pp. Gyapong is a freelance jour- nalist in Ottawa who covered Canadian national affairs for Catholic media for 15 years. Previously, she spent 17 years at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. REVIEWS Great viewing A 2016 performance of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking musi- cal Hamilton , directed by Thomas Kail, is streaming now on Disney+. In adapting Ron Cher- now’s 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton – one of the founding fathers of the US – Miranda, who also plays the title charac- ter, both elucidates history and reimagines its palette via a multiracial cast. This latter aspect of his widely acclaimedworkmakes it an especially timely source of reflection. With its rousing blend of a wide variety of musi- cal genres and lyrics that consistently demonstrate Miranda’s gifts as a word- smith, this is entertainment of exceptional quality. By the end of its 160-minute runtime, moreover, viewers are unlikely to feel stinted by this energetic staging of what might broadly be de- scribed as a rap opera. Miranda traces Hamil- ton’s rise from Caribbean immigrant (he was born to an unwedmother on the is- land of Nevis in either 1755 or 1757) to the US’s first secretary of the treasury. He also recounts the friend- ship-turned-deadly-enmity that bound Hamilton for decades to the man who would eventually prove his fatal nemesis, fellow New York politician Aaron Burr (LeslieOdomJr.). Hamilton’s ascent was due in large part to his un- usually finemind, his talent as a writer and his capacity for unrelenting hard work. But he also benefited from the patronage of George Washington (Christopher Jackson), whom he served as aide-de-camp and secre- tary during the Revolution. For once, the hype proves true: High-energy, “Hamilton” is also high-cal- ibremusical theater. ¾ ¾ By John Mulderig In Septem- ber 2019, to respond to scandals in Chile, Hondu- ras and the US, the International Centre on Law, Life, Faith and Family invited a group of internation- al experts to discuss clerical sexual miscon- duct with males ... this book is the fruit of that gathering.” “HAMILTON” STREAMING BY DISNEY New volume of expert discussions examines causes of the abuse crisis inside and outside the Church, including contributing social theories that helped pave the way