UNITED STATES
Buffalo News

By Michael D. Langan
NEWS BOOK REVIEWER

Pulitzer Prize winner Michael D’Antonio’s new book “Mortal Sins” will be the gold standard for unraveling what happened during the Catholic priests’ sex abuse scandal of the last three decades. D’Antonio’s balanced exposition and analysis is the equivalent of a cleansing shower on a disturbing period in church history that will reverberate for 100 years or more.

The monumentality of the evil laid out in “Mortal Sins” will gag readers. While there is no prurience in the writing, the matter-of-factness of the sexual activity is jaw-dropping. The crimes documented include a fact pattern of enormous proportion. The doggedness of those who pursued justice is admirable.

In “Mortal Sins” D’Antonio makes the case that:

• The abuse scandal is the product of the church’s culture of secrecy and sexual blackmail.

• Three Americans – lawyer Jeff Anderson, priest Thomas Doyle…