Deliver Us

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On our debut episode of “Deliver Us,” Maggi Van Dorn asks: How can I stay in a church where so many children have been hurt? Not everyone does. Melinda Henneberger, a journalist for The Kansas City Star, tells Maggi why the latest wave of sex abuse news pushed her to leave the Catholic Church. In the hopes of understanding what the church’s future might look like, Maggi also talks to Brian Flanagan, a theologian who puts the sex abuse crisis into historical perspective. For show notes, links and more content visit: http://deliveruspodcast.org 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

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

In this episode of “Deliver Us” we ask: Is the cover-up history? We talk to journalist Jason Berry, who reported on an abuser priest in the ’80s for National Catholic Reporter, as well as members of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, who broke the news of the sex abuse crisis in 2002. We ask them: how did the church cover up abuse? Then, we fast-forward to today to see whether or not the church is still hiding sex abuse. What can we learn from the past? And why is full transparency so difficult to achieve? Peter Steinfels, who has written critically about the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report for Commonweal, helps us understand the data. Links: Jason Berry’s book, Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children The original Spotlight reporting Peter Steinfels on the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we look at the reforms the U.S. Catholic Bishops drafted after the sexual abuse crisis of 2002. How did these new rules change things for Catholics in parishes around the country? We look at the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children—a set of policies that the bishops drafted to safeguard children from sex abuse. Governor Frank Keating of Oklahoma tells us what it was like to monitor compliance with anti-abuse policies as the chair of a national review board, and former F.B.I. agent Kathleen McChesney explains how she helped to implement the rules. We also hear from Jane Casserly Myers, a lay Catholic woman who had to deal with these changes in her home parish. Finally, America’s national correspondent Michael O’Loughlin explains how one of the public faces of the Dallas Charter—former Archbishop Theodore McCarrick—came to be found guilty of abuse of a minor himself decades later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're stepping back from the investigations and the numbers and the theories to focus on what's most essential: Listening to survivors. This episode includes some advice on listening to survivors from the Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, the president of the Union Theological Seminary and the author of Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World. Each victim story is different and that's why we want to give you the chance to hear several. We'll release two of them per week for the next two weeks.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we feature the stories and voices of the Fortney sisters—5 women in Pennsylvania who were abused by the same priest. Four of the sisters, Carolyn, Teresa, Laura, and Patty talk about the trauma of the abuse, as well as the pain that came with sharing what had happened to them with one another, their parents, the church and the authorities. Most recently, the stories of the Fortney sisters were highlighted in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report. If you missed last week’s episode, go back and listen to our interview with the Rev. Serene Jones, who talks about why it is both difficult and necessary to listen to survivor voices. Rev. Jones is president of Union Theological Seminary, an abuse survivor herself, and author of Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we will share the story of Marie Collins, an Irish survivor who became an advocate for victims of sexual abuse and served on the pontifical commission for the Protection of minors at the Vatican. If you missed our previous survivor stories, please go back and listen to our interview with the Rev. Serene Jones, who talks about why it is both difficult and necessary to listen to survivor voices. Rev. Jones is president of Union Theological Seminary, an abuse survivor herself, and author of Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the fourth and final episode of our mini-series with survivors, we are sharing the story of Michael Mack. Michael is the author of the one-man play: "Conversations with My Molester: A Journey of Faith." If you missed our previous survivor stories, please go back and listen to our interview with the Rev. Serene Jones, who talks about why it is both difficult and necessary to listen to survivor voices. Rev. Jones is president of Union Theological Seminary, an abuse survivor herself, and author of Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World. Links: www.michaelmacklive.com   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We need your help to share Deliver Us. Please remember to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. For our final episode, we want to hear how you’ve been confronting the Catholic sexual abuse crisis in your own faith community. Perhaps you’ve joined a group at your parish, school or diocese. Or written to your bishop, attended a listening session, or dedicated time in prayer. Maybe you’ve taken to writing a blog or educational resources. Whatever you’ve felt compelled to do, please share your story with us! We will do our best to feature the audio on Deliver Us. For instructions on how to share audio, please email us at deliveruspodcast@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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

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

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