September 07, 2020

Crisis: Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church

The Catholic Project at The Catholic University of America is launching a new documentary-style podcast, Crisis: Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church. The series leads from the landmark case of Rev. Gilbert Gauthe in 1985, through the summer of 2018 when clergy sex abuse reports skyrocketed, and the subsequent February 2019 landmark Vatican meeting on sex abuse in Rome.

In each episode of the podcast, host Karna Lozoya, executive director of strategic communications at CatholicU, threads together interviews with bishops, survivors, reporters, lawyers, social workers, and others.

Listeners can expect to hear from principal actors in the story, including:

  • James Grein, whose experience of abuse by Theodore McCarrick contributed to McCarrick’s resignation from the College of Cardinals and the stripping of his priesthood;
  • Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, who was president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops when the McCarrick allegations hit the news;
  • Teresa Pitt Green, founder of the survivor-advocacy organization Spirit Fire;
    Ray Mouton, the attorney who represented the first priest criminally indicted in the U.S. for the sexual abuse of children in 1985;
  • Tom Roberts, executive editor of National Catholic Reporter, which broke the early stories of sexual abuse in the ’80s;
  • Kim Daniels, associate director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University;
  • George Weigel, distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Crisis is the first podcast of The Catholic Project, directed by Stephen White, executive director of the Catholic Project. It is produced by Jeff Grasser; written by David Freddoso and Sara Perla; with sound design by Paul Vaitkus; and music by Gautam Srikisham and Jay Tibbits. 

Episodes will be released weekly, beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 9. Listeners can subscribe and listen on Apple, Stitcher, Google, and Spotify. Visit https://catholicproject.catholic.edu/podcast/ for more information.

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