…for a while, I suspect.

An NCR review, the first I’ve seen, of the new book by Jason Berry, along with Gerald Renner, Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II

It should be read because it will train our focus, in these days of reports and audits, on what we must consider — church leadership and accountability. It is a must-read because it pulls together, as is only possible in a reported book of this length, the clear evidence of how deeply ingrained is the culture of clerical secrecy that allowed the scandal to flourish. It makes clear that no matter how many new reports and norms are issued, no matter how many episcopal apologies are stacked up amid the wreckage of the crisis, the only real way out of the current mess is to institute bold new mechanisms for establishing transparency and for holding church leadership accountable.