Rating: 
Summary: Truth is Power
Review: Vows of Silence is a powerful book not everyone will like. It's power resides in the ring of truth the authors brilliantly chronicle. It is a "must read" if one wishes to be informed of the darkness that hides yet presides within the Catholic Church. No proper Catholic and be an influence of change without verifying the truth that lies therein.
Rating: 
Summary: Fear and the Institution
Review: Vows of Silence is an avalanche of a book. I felt as if I were fighting just to keep my head above the deluge of evidence and experience, all of which is carefully documented with references and footnotes. While its dry and dispassionate style make it rough going at first, that style proves to be a saving grace, completely avoiding the vitriol to which the book might have succumbed in the hands of lesser journalists. In the hands of Jason Berry and Gerald Renner, the book is a treatise on the systemic malfunction of the Roman Catholic Church, whose actions have become more concentrated on self-protection than on the mission that it continues to insist is its true identity and raison d'etre. As such, it is a study of corruption common among institutions in general. Through the details and repugnant particulars of the church sex abuse scandal (there are "Oh, no!" moments on almost every page,) and the frustrated efforts of the victims (faithful to the end) as they begged for leadership, Vows of Silence illuminates how an institution's fear for its own security can spark a monster to life. The authors make the point that, in the Roman Catholic Church, great sums of money are involved. The reader may deduce the correlation between those sums and the ruthlessness of the monster. The damage inflicted by a corporate monster may only be the loss of its employees' pensions; but when the monster is sparked from the western world's largest defender of the faith, the damage is far greater. We see people doubting their own worth, their own judgment, their faith in each other, and even in their God. And this is the driving force behind the book: an outrage fueled by betrayal. The outrage comes, I think, from the utter vulgarity of the betrayal, a vulgarity of commonness, the vulgarity of the declaration that laypeople and even the subordinate ordained are neither equipped nor entitled to reach their own understanding of God. It is the vulgarity of proclaiming a single man to be unerring in the perception and declaration of the rules of conduct by which humanity can experience the love and serenity of God. For Vows of Silence lays the unbelievable sum of sexual abuse of innocents by the ordained squarely in the pontifical lap of John Paul II, who has spent his tenure on St. Peter's Throne steadfastly insisting on the concept of papal infallibility. Berry and Renner write simply, "John Paul's insistence on obedience to truth, as defined by Rome, overrode freedom of inquiry by theologians." If ever there was a meditation for 2004, it is here.
Rating:
Summary: THE REAL 'DA VINCI CODE'
Review: VOWS OF SILENCE, TRUE STORY, Why we recommend This book is not just another scandal mongering report; it is a serious work of investigative reporting that has taken years to compose and is of great importance for Catholic and non-Catholic alike. It would be a pity, e.g., if people read The Da Vinci Code, a FICTION thriller, and do not read this TRUE STORY. It will help you understand the complex internal workings of the Church, how accusations and cases are handled and resolved, how decisions are made, the interplay between laity, priests, bishops, the Vatican, the public and the press, etc. There may be one or two isolated points of view in the book that some orthodox Catholics might quibble with but OVERALL THIS IS A SERIOUS, EXTREMELY WELL RESEARCHED AND WELL WRITTEN BOOK ABOUT THE PEDOPHILE ABUSE 'SCANDAL' IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH and in THE LEGION OF CHRIST and the SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS AGAINST FATHER MARCIAL MACIEL I would not like concerned orthodox Catholics to be side-tracked by some material they might find objectionable which would prevent them from reading this book carefully. Regain, www.regainnetwork.org, can provide a forum for your concerns. Administration, making a special effort to address any reservations you, concerned Catholic, might have. You will find the story of Canon Lawyer Father Thomas Doyle very edifying and that of Father Maciel disturbing. I believe this book is of interest to every educated catholic parent, educator, counselor, pastoral worker, priest, bishop, reporter, etc.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps a better title?
Review: Vows of Silence: The Abuses of Marcial Maciel, Founder of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi and kept quiet by JPII
is what I'd suggest! Otherwise, aside from some organizational difficulties probably arising from a book composed by two authors, Renner and Berry provide an excellent account of the problems facing the Legion of Christ due to its megalomaniac Mexican founder. Though it goes in depth into the struggles within the US Catholic Church with the pedophile or ephebophile (those attracted to post pubescent boys) scandal, its focus on accusations against Maciel are well researched and documented. The comparisons with the US problems serves to alert the reader that the cover up seems to be a tendancy within the entire Roman Church to not address such tender issues.
It is clear that Maciel has been able to get away with many crimes against his own seminarians, as well as hide some other character issues, because the Church's hierarchy supports such abuses.
Time for a change? I'd say, si!
Rating: 
Summary: GIVE ME A BREAK !!!
Review: We Catholics know and continue to know our Church's problems.
Sin. Yes. But you do forget about the Divine aspect as well as the Fallen human aspect. We have gone through so very much, and yet others continue to and feed off the evil and sin....like food..hence the book. The Validity and Pronfundity of the book is very questionable.
Very, very typical of "ex-so and so" books. I urge anyone to get to the sources. First educate about yourself a subject before displaying a judicial attitude towards a Very Loving group of Men or any type of institution. I tell you, If you have NOT been to the Legion's Seminary or have not
fully educated yourself about the Legion's Charism, then you should ! First, get to know them. But do not judge them on this book. I know the Legion first hand and I can tell you they are top notch priests ! Well founded. Well based. Voice of Morality.
Voice of Love. Voice of Reason. Voice of the Kingdom of God here on earth and most of all, Voice of Christ to all lay Catholics to LIVE THE FAITH TO THE FULLEST !!! First and foremost, get to know the Legionaries of Christ....then, just then, will you trully know the love of these great and awesome men for Christ.
Rating:
Summary: One Wonders...
Review: While the strands of this narrative often get tedious - one wonders whether the authors were in too much of a rush to get their book out while the clergy sexual abuse scandals were in the headlines - the detailed allegations made by Berry and Renner against one of the most "revered" figures of contemporary Catholicism, Fr. Marcel Maciel, founder of the ultra-conservative Legionaires of Christ, are shocking. While "Nuestro Padre" ("Our Father") as he is blasphemously called by his devotees (victims?) has denied the charges, he has made no attempt to vindicate himself through a recourse to the judicial system. One is left wondering if Berry and Renner have uncovered something that ought to receive more attention and that their targets have chosen to ignore them rather than risk contesting the allegations. Every Catholic should read this book.
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