The Betrayal of the Church

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course will offer a theological examination of the clerical sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church by (i) articulating a robust understanding of what the church is; (ii) mapping the presence of both personal and structural sin in the crisis; and examining and evaluating both (iii) proffered concrete causes of the crisis, and (iv) mechanisms that seek to end the crisis once and for all. Fundamentally, the course argues that while many in the church have engaged in horrible acts of betraying, the church as a whole has been betrayed.