Category Archives: Thomas Doyle

How Patrick Wall became the Catholic church’s worst nightmare

Patrick Wall flips through a six-inch-thick binder in a law office that once housed a confessional booth. He’s got whole boxes yet to comb through, each containing several decades’ worth of internal church memos, affidavits, and police reports.

Examining the Crisis: Scandal vs. crisis; PR vs. raw data

Ron Westrum, professor of sociology at Eastern Michigan University, suggests that organizations react in a series of stages to “anomalous reports.” They are: 1) suppression, 2) encapsulation, 3) public relations, 4) local fix, 5) global fix, and 6) investigation of … Continue reading

Priest Quits Church to Expose Scandals

Irish Benedictine monk Patrick Wall thought his life was over when he quit the priesthood in disgust at the way he claims his bosses covered up sickening sex scandals.

‘Divorce’ from the Benedictines

SANTA ANA, Calif. — After 11 years as a monk, Patrick Wall was so disheartened by cases of sexual abuse, he renounced his vows and left the abbey. now, he works investigating abusive priests

Honesty comes before healing

THE CHURCH in the United States is experiencing a crisis without precedent in our times,” say the U.S. bishops in the opening sentence of their 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. In this unprecedented crisis, all … Continue reading

For 3 Who Warned Church, Fears Borne Out

In an auditorium in the Minnesota countryside one June day, the bishops of the American Roman Catholic Church were gathered in closed conclave. It was a heady time. They had used their moral standing to plunge into the nation’s political … Continue reading

What they knew in 1985

As attorneys across the nation press countless clergy sex abuse cases against the church, two critical questions they most often ask are: “What did the bishop know?” and “When did he know it?” At stake is episcopal culpability. Also at … Continue reading

Thomas Doyle Memo: A Short History of “The Manual”

Thomas Doyle Memo An examination of the Canon Law in matters concerning the sexual abuse of children. A Short History of “The Manual” by Thomas Doyle, O.P., J.C.D. The “manual” as it is commonly referred to, was the work of … Continue reading

An examination of the Canon Law in matters concerning the sexual abuse of children

PART I MEMORANDUM

The Problem of Sexual Molestation by Roman Catholic Clergy

This confidential document had its remote beginnings in January of 1985 as a result of the consequences of the unfortunate incidents in Louisiana. The three major parts of the final draft were prepared in May of 1985 and this final … Continue reading