In Search of a Historiography of Clergy Sexual Abuse

Clergy sexual abuse has become a key area of interest in the study of U.S. Catholic history. For decades, survivors and whistleblowers have written passionately about the pain and scandal of clerical abuse. Journalists and social scientists have described their suffering as a “crisis” caused by indi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Clites, Brian J. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Soc. 2023
In: US catholic historian
Year: 2023, Volume: 41, Issue: 2, Pages: 79-102
IxTheo Classification:KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
KBQ North America
KDB Roman Catholic Church
NCF Sexual ethics
RB Church office; congregation
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Summary:Clergy sexual abuse has become a key area of interest in the study of U.S. Catholic history. For decades, survivors and whistleblowers have written passionately about the pain and scandal of clerical abuse. Journalists and social scientists have described their suffering as a “crisis” caused by individual and organizational pathologies, while lawyers and criminologists have advocated for financial and carceral solutions. Questions of religion and history took a backseat to these framings of clerical abuse as deviant, clinical, and judicial. After a recent influx of new resources, American Catholic historians now have the opportunity to reshape the discourse by contextualizing clergy sexual abuse within Catholic history and culture. Although this work has just begun, emerging projects suggest that intersectional and interdisciplinary approaches might unlock new ways of understanding not just clergy abuse but also the related topics of Catholic childhood, gender, and sexuality.
ISSN:1947-8224
Contains:Enthalten in: US catholic historian
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1353/cht.2023.0009