Author: Sally Barr Ebest, Department of English, University of Missouri, St. Louis

Abstracts:
- »Sally Barr Ebest’s Chapter 34 explores a darker aspect of the affiliation of Irish‑American identity and Catholicism. Tracing the evolution of the child sex abuse scandal’s exposure and its causes, Ebest suggests that Irish Americans’ historical relationship to Catholicism as an anchor for immigrant communities, as well as preexisting tendencies toward silence and deference inherited from Irish culture, compounded the proclivities of a Church hierarchy dedicated to self‑preservation.« (Source: McMahon, Cian T., et al. »Introduction.« The Routledge History of Irish America. Edited by Cian T. McMahon et al. New York 2024: 9)

- »In 2001, the archbishop of Boston made an extraordinary admission: Seventeen years earlier, he had appointed the Rev. Father John J. Geoghan to be Vicar at an upscale suburban Church despite knowing that Geoghan had been repeatedly accused of molesting boys. Although child sex abuse had been reported since the 1980s and the Boston Globe had written about Geoghan in 1997, the revelation that the Church had hidden these reports and protected its priests—rather than their victims—became the impetus for Globe reporters to determine if this habit was anomalous. Their investigation, reported in the book Betrayal, revealed that Geoghan was not an aberration: scores of priests had molested hundreds of Catholic boys in the Greater Boston area. Geoghan himself was said to have abused more than 130 boys over a 30-year period. This chapter considers the elements contributing to the ensuing scandal. It begins with a history of clerical sexual abuse in Ireland, the efforts to keep it private, and the transnational connection between Rome, Ireland, and America. It then examines possible sources of the problem—including parochial education, victimization, seminary formation—and silence. Finally, it traces the effects on the victims and their families and closes with a discussion of Irish Americans’ role in stopping abuse through education, vigilance, and activism.« (Source: Taylor & Francis Online)

Contents:

	Where Did It Begin? (p. 445)
	Boston: A Case Study of Silence and Deference (p. 446)
	Why Catholics? (p. 449)
	Why Didn’t They Speak Up? (p. 451)
	Breaking the Silence (p. 452)
	Conclusion (p. 454)
	Notes (p. 454)
	Bibliography (p. 455)
		Primary Sources (p. 455)
		Secondary Sources (p. 456)
		Newspapers (p. 457)

Wikipedia: History of the Americas: History of the United States | Catholic Church: Catholic Church in the United States / Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston | Catholic Church: Catholic Church sexual abuse cases / Catholic Church sex abuse cases in the United States, Sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston | Sex and the law: Child sexual abuse / John Geoghan, Child sexual abuse in the United States