#97: Dr. Leon Podles—Uncomfortable Facts About the Sex Scandal

 

Dr. Lee Podles is an author and researcher with over 20 years’ experience as a federal investigator. He’s neither a loopy liberal with an axe to grind nor a bitter Trad who hates everything that happened after the Council of Trent. He’s a husband and father of six who is fed up with the conspiracy of silence and the constant use of euphemisms when it comes to the priestly abuse crisis.

One of the bases for his anger is the astonishingly similar pattern of a) abuse (mostly homosexual predation), b) traumatic imprint in the victim, and that fact that c) few people believe the victim, d) bishop moves predators around (or claims “no legal duty” to disclose previous molestation of minors in the background of priests, e) either pay out enormous sums of money in settlements or double down on undermining the victim.

Not for the faint of heart, his 2008 book Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church is a tour de force—a journey into dark recesses of the secretive bishops’ club in which lawyering up and refusing responsibility characterize the crisis.

Don’t miss this riveting conversation with a courageous researcher who—as an indispensable minimum—wants the Church herself to purge, repent, and renew through telling the truth.

 

In this episode you will learn:

• Why “clericalism” feeds the problem but does not explain it
• Why Catholic laymen need to take the lead in restoring the Church to her rightful place and mission
• That the crisis is international in scope, even if it represents only a small minority of priests
• It is not a “pedophilia” scandal but a homosexual predator one
• Signs of hope that Christ has not abandoned His Church

 

Resources recommended in this episode:

• Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church by Leon Podles

Question of the week

How can righteous anger be a positive agent for change in the Church today?

 

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