Deliver Us
Will the Catholic Church's sex abuse crisis ever end? That's a question everyone has been asking since the latest wave of news in 2018. In Deliver Us, host Maggi Van Dorn is a Catholic committed to healing the church from the inside. She wants to know: How did this happen? And what, if anything, can we do to help? Hear from experts, advocates, and survivors to learn what the church can do to move forward. Because you can’t fix something until you know how it’s broken.
Episodes
January 24, 2019 • 1 min
Will the Catholic Church's sex abuse crisis ever end? That's a question everyone has been asking since the latest wave of news in 2018. In Deliver Us, host Maggi Van Dorn is a Catholic committed to healing the church from the inside. She wants to know: How did this happen? And what, if anything, can we do to help? Hear from experts, advocates, and survivors to learn what the church can do to move forward. Because you can’t fix some...
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February 13, 2019 • 30 mins
On our debut episode of “Deliver Us,” Maggi Van Dorn asks: How can I stay in a church where so many children have been hurt? Not everyone does. Melinda Henneberger, a journalist for The Kansas City Star, tells Maggi why the latest wave of sex abuse news pushed her to leave the Catholic Church. In the hopes of understanding what the church’s future might look like, Maggi also talks to Brian Flanagan, a theologian who puts the sex ab...
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February 21, 2019 • 34 mins
In our second episode of “Deliver Us,” we look at two suspected causes of the sex abuse crisis: celibacy and gay priests.
Psychologist Thomas Plante has worked clinically and academically in the area of clerical sexual abuse for 30 years, and he describes the behaviors and traits that are common among abuser priests. Margaret Smith of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice gives us a deep dive on the data. She says that the stat...
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February 28, 2019 • 30 mins
In this episode of “Deliver Us” we ask: Is the cover-up history? We talk to journalist Jason Berry, who reported on an abuser priest in the ’80s for National Catholic Reporter, as well as members of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, who broke the news of the sex abuse crisis in 2002. We ask them: how did the church cover up abuse?
Then, we fast-forward to today to see whether or not the church is still hiding sex abuse. What can ...
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March 7, 2019 • 30 mins
In this episode, we look at the reforms the U.S. Catholic Bishops drafted after the sexual abuse crisis of 2002. How did these new rules change things for Catholics in parishes around the country?
We look at the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children—a set of policies that the bishops drafted to safeguard children from sex abuse. Governor Frank Keating of Oklahoma tells us what it was like to monitor compliance with anti-ab...
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March 12, 2019 • 24 mins
We're stepping back from the investigations and the numbers and the theories to focus on what's most essential: Listening to survivors.
This episode includes some advice on listening to survivors from the Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, the president of the Union Theological Seminary and the author of Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World.
Each victim story is different and that's why we want to give you the chance to hear severa...
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March 14, 2019 • 24 mins
In this episode, we feature the stories and voices of the Fortney sisters—5 women in Pennsylvania who were abused by the same priest. Four of the sisters, Carolyn, Teresa, Laura, and Patty talk about the trauma of the abuse, as well as the pain that came with sharing what had happened to them with one another, their parents, the church and the authorities. Most recently, the stories of the Fortney sisters were highlighted in the Pe...
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March 19, 2019 • 12 mins
In this episode, we will share the story of Marie Collins, an Irish survivor who became an advocate for victims of sexual abuse and served on the pontifical commission for the Protection of minors at the Vatican.
If you missed our previous survivor stories, please go back and listen to our interview with the Rev. Serene Jones, who talks about why it is both difficult and necessary to listen to survivor voices. Rev. Jones is presid...
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March 21, 2019 • 20 mins
In the fourth and final episode of our mini-series with survivors, we are sharing the story of Michael Mack. Michael is the author of the one-man play: "Conversations with My Molester: A Journey of Faith."
If you missed our previous survivor stories, please go back and listen to our interview with the Rev. Serene Jones, who talks about why it is both difficult and necessary to listen to survivor voices. Rev. Jones is president of ...
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April 5, 2019 • 4 mins
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For our final episode, we want to hear how you’ve been confronting the Catholic sexual abuse crisis in your own faith community. Perhaps you’ve joined a group at your parish, school or diocese. Or written to your bishop, attended a listening session, or dedicated time in prayer. Maybe you’ve taken to writing a blog or educational resour...
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April 11, 2019 • 37 mins
In this episode of “Deliver Us,” we’re asking what justice looks like for survivors. What does the church need to do? What models of justice can we look to in this unique crisis?
We look at the differences between criminal and financial justice, speaking to experts like Marci Hamilton, the founder and CEO of Child USA. We ask Marci how extending the statutes of limitations could help survivors, and we hear from Cardinal Dolan abou...
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April 18, 2019 • 36 mins
In this week's episode, we are looking at what the church can do to hold its bishops accountable.
To better understand the problems and difficulties with holding bishops accountable, we will look at the case of Theodore McCarrick, a cardinal who was stripped of his title and office for abusing two minors in the '70s.
How did such a high ranking church leader, one who even had a hand in drafting the church's reforms, avoid being h...
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April 25, 2019 • 34 mins
This week’s episode takes on clericalism and the part it has played in the abuse crisis. What is clericalism and how can we recognize it when we see it?
John Carr, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, talks to us about how he saw clericalism manifest in his conversations with the U.S. bishops. He talks about how the bishops are isolated, in part because of clericalism—and ...
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May 2, 2019 • 41 mins
In the final episode of Deliver Us, we ask: What’s mine to do and not somebody else’s? What part of the church’s healing are we each responsible for?
To grapple with these questions, we spoke to people who have responded to the sex abuse crisis in different ways. Geoff Boisi and Kerry Robinson talk about why they formed Leadership Roundtable, an organization which brings best business practices to church leaders and which has c...
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November 26, 2019 • 2 mins
In "Plague" journalist Michael O'Loughlin investigates stories of the AIDS epidemic and the Catholic Church. Mike is America’s national correspondent and he’s covered Catholicism for more than a decade. Mike is also gay and Catholic—and he’s curious how others manage this sometimes complex identity.
No time in modern history has been more volatile for gay Catholics than the height of the AIDS epidemic. So he spent the last few yea...
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