This book is a theological reflection on the broken state of faith and of the Catholic Church in Ireland, following more than two decades of revelations of institutional and child sexual abuse and the Church’s now acknowledged failure to respond to the abuse in an appropriate way. This has resulted in broken lives, broken faith and a broken church.

Patrick Claffey is a member of the Society of the Divine Word and worked for many years as a missionary in West Africa. His academic interest is in the study of religions, in which he lectures at University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin and All Hallows College, Dublin. Joe Egan lectures at the Milltown Institute in Dublin, where his research focuses on the interaction between faith and culture in contemporary society. He is the author of (2009) and (2010), and co-editor, with Patrick Claffey, of (2009). Marie Keenan is a registered psychotherapist and social scientist who is employed at the School of Applied Social Science, University College Dublin. She is the author of (2012). She is currently researching in the area of restorative justice, sexual trauma and abuse.

Contents: Patrick Claffey: Broken Faith and the Search for Hope – Patrick McCafferty: «A Cry from the Depths»: Entering into the Mystery of Christ Forsaken – Bernadette Fahy: «Suffer Little Children»: The Indelible Memory of Institutional Abuse – Dáire Keogh: Between Hagiography and Horror: The Challenge for the Historian – John L. Allen Jr: Between Reform and Realism: How the Sexual Abuse Crisis Is (and Isn’t) Changing the Church – Marie Keenan: Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church: A Multi-Layered Perspective – Michael Cronin: Fear and Loathing in the Republic: Why Hope Matters – Lynn M. Levo: Revising Our Understanding of Being Sexual – Geraldine Smyth OP: What Lies Beneath: From Purity and Power to Crisis and – Thomas R. Whelan: Culture of Clericalism: Towards a Theological Deconstruction – Kieran O’Mahony: St Paul, Mentor for a Recovering Church? Gender, Ethics and Ministry in Radical Perspective – Gerard Mannion: An Acute Symptom of a Much Deeper Malaise: The Abuse Crisis in its Wider Ecclesiological Context – Gerry O’Hanlon: Re-Building Trust: The Role of the Catholic Church in Ireland – Joe Egan: Renewing a Faith that Is Broken: Trajectories towards Healing and Wholeness, Truth and Reconciliation.