Readers celebrate the legacy of French Catholic thinker Paul Virilio, and question Cathleen Kaveny’s critique of using RICO the statute to prosecute the church
New York State’s new Child Victims Act allows people who were sexually abused in childhood to sue public institutions. What does the law mean for the church?
The four-day Vatican summit on sex abuse revealed an unsettling paradox: the hierarchy practicing reform, and victims’ groups scorning of a missed opportunity
The Catholic Church today is in crisis. But it is not the hierarchy alone who belong in sackcloth and ashes, begging forgiveness; all of us must become penitents.
The whistle-blower in the McCarrick affair narrates the steps he took to report the former cardinal’s abusive behavior, but also the ways in which it was ignored
The church is hardly a criminal organization, and prosecuting it under the RICO statute doesn’t make sense. Bankruptcy laws, however, offer a better way
The grand-jury report does not substantiate the prevailing script about how bishops let predators get away with committing and recommitting their crimes
Greg Burke brought an American way of doing business to a dysfunctional press office. But he quickly grew weary of the Vatican’s culture of caution and cover-up
Scapegoating gay priests and pining for a world in which most Catholics agree with church teaching on birth control is no way to confront the abuse crisis
After reading news of the lawsuits brought against the Diocese of Fairbanks and the Oregon province of the Society of Jesus, I left the church for good.
The sex-abuse scandal has raised strong emotions on all sides of the debate. But we need clarity, and transparency, especially in the McCarrick investigation
Even though four billion dollars have been spent on sex-abuse settlements, a 2017 survey of diocesan financial records found mixed results on transparency
One way for civil prosecutors to circumvent the statute of limitations on abuse cases is to use RICO, an anti-corruption law. But is it really the best approach?
A Catholic nun from the South Indian state of Kerala has defied her congregation to publicly accuse a prominent bishop of repeatedly raping her for two years.
As in the sixteenth century, the question is not whether the Catholic Church will survive this age of scandal, but what form the church will survive in
Young people need guidance to make choices about sex and love, but they won’t get it from a church that’s still telling girls they’re better off dead than raped
If, as Viganò claims, Benedict XVI only sanctioned McCarrick “informally,” why did he force the resignation of another bishop for far less serious concerns?
While the former nuncio’s incendiary claims have been largely discredited, Pope Francis still needs to articulate a path forward through the sex-abuse crisis
The Chilean bishops are on the ropes right now, but their appointment of two women to lead abuse prevention has the potential to transform the Chilean church
I could detail the reasons for my personal gratitude to the church, but like many at this moment, I am struggling, wondering if the church can meet its obligations
Three ecclesial structures inherited from the Council of Trent are still with us today, and must be changed if the church is to be meaningfully reformed
If there is something to seize from this moment, it is the opportunity to envision—with vigor, clarity, and discernment—meaningful and measurable reform
Changing a clerical culture that prizes secrecy and loyalty over truth and transparency will be tedious and challenging work, but it’s more necessary than ever
