Book-banning

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Oct 06, 2008

Although it happened back in April, the decision by the rector of the National Shrine to cancel my appearance at a book-signing, and then to pull my book, The Faithful Departed, off the bookstore shelves, is just now stirring controversy. First the Washington Times carried a story, then National Review Online picked it up, and now The Tower, the student newspaper at Catholic University. 

Over on the blog devoted to my book, my wife Leila discusses the reason given for "disinviting" me: the charge that my book on the sex-abuse scandal does not promote healing within the Church. Her point and mine, in a nutshell, is this: If you have a serious medical problem, you can't expect to heal it by pretending it's not there. So too with the Church. If we haven't addressed the root causes of the scandal-- the argument of The Faithful Departed-- you can't expect authentic healing and recovery.