'History Of Loneliness' Explores The Complexity Of Priest Sex Abuse
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. It used to be
that being a Catholic priest was just about the highest social standing a
man could achieve in Ireland. It was a call that always reflected well
upon a young man and his family. The Irish writer John Boyne says that
is not always the case now. The sex abuse crisis in the church destroyed
a lot of lives, and the focus has rightly been on the victims who
suffered the abuse. But in his new novel, Boyne introduces us to a
central, yet overlooked, character in this crisis - the priest who did
not abuse but who did turn a blind eye. The book is called "A History Of
Loneliness," and the priest at the center of the story is named Father
Odran Yates.
