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	Author Speaks about Catholic Church Scandal By George Duma The Tribune September 25, 2009 http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1770182 PORT COLBORNE — Linden MacIntyre's powerful new novel, The Bishop's Man deals with an issue horribly familiar by now to many Roman Catholics either directly or indirectly ­— the sexual abuse of children by priests. However, MacIntyre told a packed house at Thursday night's Authors' Series at Roselawn the book is not about sex. "The story is about betrayal. Abusive priests preyed on the children of the most faithful. Not Protestant kids, not Jewish kids, not those of lapsed Catholics but those of the most devout Catholics." Born in Newfoundland and raised in Cape Breton, the 66-year-old multiple-award winning investigative journalist and host of CBC's Fifth Estate knows firsthand the power the Roman Catholic Church carries in the Maritimes. He has seen it, lived it, grew up with it even though his family was not devout. MacIntyre himself was never sexually abused. But he saw the torment that betrayal could bring to a Maritime community. "There was a horrifying situation where two priests, twin brothers, were both charged with pedophilia, both sent to prison. "At a time when, in a small fishing village reaching the priesthood was the pinnacle of success, it was devastating to a community." MacIntyre says when he was growing up many men became priests, not because of piety or some calling, "but because it was a job." "You could go down the (Cape Breton) Island and become a coal miner, if you were crazy, or you could be a lumberjack. The priesthood was a job and if the Catholic institution saw you had an interest, they helped steer you there." The Bishop's Man centres on Father Duncan MacAskill. "Young MacAskill has a crisis of piety when he stumbles across an older priest he admires caught in an act of sexual abuse." After the young priest runs to the bishop, he is sent away to a Third World country, ostensibly to become a better priest. He later returns and spends most of his priesthood as the "exorcist" — an enforcer the bishop keeps near him to discipline wayward priests and keep the lid on potential scandal. MacIntyre reads a passage from his book. Father MacAskill is visiting a family – a mother, a father and their 11-year-old son. The local parish priest has sexually abused the son over a period of time. Father MacAskill at once shows compassion toward the boy, toward the family, while deftly manipulating the situation so that it will eventually be stilled. The dialogue between the characters is real. It's chilling. The poignancy of the passage draws rousing applause from the Roselawn audience. Responding to a question from an audience member following the reading, MacIntyre says the Roman Catholic Church is an institution that demands "unnatural" expectations from those it ordains. "It's an institution that excludes half the population, tells the half it includes that it must lead a lifestyle that is psychologically and physically unnatural, then puts the individual into an extended family, a community, where everybody confides their deepest secrets and troubles to him yet he can't to them. "It's a clinic to cultivate serious problems." Roman Catholic church officials, he says, must stop apologizing for generations of abuse and instead say they're going to explore the church's hierarchy to see if there's something that causes these abnormalities. MacIntyre sees little difference in his work as an investigative reporter and that of a novelist. He has written three novels, including The Bishop's Man. "All my life I've been inspired by the works of writers like Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Hemingway. The only thing fake in their books was the characters. Everything else was real. "They effected more change in their societies than any newspaper article." MacIntyre wrapped up the evening with a book signing session. • • • The Authors' Series will continue Friday, Oct. 30 with Michael Crummy, a Newfoundland writer that series organizers have been trying to bring to Roselawn since his hugely successful debut novel, River Thieves. His second book, The Wreckage, was a national bestseller. Crummy will be featuring his new novel, Galore.
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