In our second episode of “Deliver Us,” we look at two suspected causes of the sex abuse crisis: celibacy and gay priests.
 Psychologist Thomas Plante has worked clinically and academically in the area of clerical sexual abuse for 30 years, and he describes the behaviors and traits that are common among abuser priests. Margaret Smith of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice gives us a deep dive on the data. She says that the statistics do not support theories that celibacy and gay priests caused the abuse crisis.
 After looking at the data, Maggi asks three men a more personal question: How’s your celibate life going? These men had different experiences of celibacy in the Catholic church, and help us to understand how the church can better help priests to live healthy, celibate lives. 
 Links:
  Thomas Plante: No, homosexuality is not a risk factor for the sexual abuse of children
  The John Jay Study on the causes of the sex abuse crisis
 Patrick Gothman’s ministry for queer Catholics
 The theme music for Deliver Us is composed and produced by Kris McCormick. Additional music courtesy of APM.
  
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How’s Your Celibate Life Going?

Will the Catholic Church's sex abuse crisis ever end? That's a question everyone has been asking since the latest wave of news in 2018. In Deliver Us, host Maggi Van Dorn is a Catholic committed to healing the church from the inside. She wants to know: How did this happen? And what, if anything, can we do to help? Hear from experts, advocates, and survivors to learn what the church can do to move forward. Because you can’t fix something until you know how it’s broken.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

News

Politics

In "Plague" journalist Michael O'Loughlin investigates stories of the AIDS epidemic and the Catholic Church. Mike is America’s national correspondent and he’s covered Catholicism for more than a decade. Mike is also gay and Catholic—and he’s curious how others manage this sometimes complex identity.
 No time in modern history has been more volatile for gay Catholics than the height of the AIDS epidemic. So he spent the last few years interviewing people who were right in the middle of it. People who fought, worked and grieved through it.
 Episode 1 will be available on December 1, wherever you get your podcasts. Find out more at www.americamag.org/plague
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing PLAGUE: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church

In the final episode of Deliver Us, we ask: What’s mine to do and not somebody else’s? What part of the church’s healing are we each responsible for?
 To grapple with these questions, we spoke to people who have responded to the sex abuse crisis in different ways. Geoff Boisi and Kerry Robinson talk about why they formed Leadership Roundtable, an organization which brings best business practices to church leaders and which has convened experts to discuss the church’s future. Leadership Roundtable has made it a priority to address the “twin crises” of the abuse crisis—one being the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults, and the other being the leadership failures in the church that have led to distrust.
 Donna Doucette of Voice of the Faithful also joins the episode to offer her take on how lay people can contribute to healing, and Monica LaBelle offers her experience of setting up listening sessions in her parish.
 We also hear from you, our listeners, in this final episode. You tell us what you’ve been doing to help the church move forward.
 Leadership Roundtable
 Voice of the Faithful
 Catholic Lay Response
  Wounded Body of Christ: A Parish Discussion Guide on Abuse in the Catholic Church
 In Spirit and Truth Blog
  A Symposium on Responding to the Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis - St. Mary’s Church in  Hamilton, NY.
  Fordham's Center on Religion and Culture
 Renew International
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s Mine to Do and Not Somebody Else's?

This week’s episode takes on clericalism and the part it has played in the abuse crisis. What is clericalism and how can we recognize it when we see it?
 John Carr, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, talks to us about how he saw clericalism manifest in his conversations with the U.S. bishops. He talks about how the bishops are isolated, in part because of clericalism—and how that can contribute to abuses of power.
 How is clericalism related to gender? Julie Rubio, a professor at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University, joins the episode to offer her take, and speaks about how clericalism should be addressed in seminarians.
 Theologian Richard Gaillardetz talks about who enables clericalism: It’s not just clergy.
 Links:
  #ChurchToo by Julie Rubio
 “Eight lessons to help us move forward from the sex abuse crisis” by John Carr
  To Serve the People of God by Rick Gaillardetz
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Can We Shift Power in the Church?

In this week's episode, we are looking at what the church can do to hold its bishops accountable.
 To better understand the problems and difficulties with holding bishops accountable, we will look at the case of Theodore McCarrick, a cardinal who was stripped of his title and office for abusing two minors in the '70s.
 How did such a high ranking church leader, one who even had a hand in drafting the church's reforms, avoid being held accountable for so long? Fr. Boniface Ramsey will explain what happened.
 You'll also hear from Marie Collins, a survivor who served on the pope's commission for the protection of minors alongside our other guest, Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, who is the head of the Center for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
 Later we will consult theologian Rick Gaillardetz about both long term reform and immediate fixes to canon law, the legal code of the Catholic Church.
  
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Can We Do to Hold Bishops Accountable?

In this episode of “Deliver Us,” we’re asking what justice looks like for survivors. What does the church need to do? What models of justice can we look to in this unique crisis?
 We look at the differences between criminal and financial justice, speaking to experts like Marci Hamilton, the founder and CEO of Child USA. We ask Marci how extending the statutes of limitations could help survivors, and we hear from Cardinal Dolan about what a “victim compensation fund” is. Teri Anulewicz, a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, is a lawmaker who has been grappling with these questions of justice as a Catholic mother. She joins this episode to offer her perspective.
 Justice, transparency and healing are all connected, and we find that current statutes of limitations can work against all three, especially in cases of child sexual abuse.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How’s Your Celibate Life Going?

Download our free app to listen on your phone