Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
The first book to expose how the Catholic Church systematically covers up scandal by moving abusers across borders.
Clerical sexual abuse is as global as the Roman Catholic Church, with bishops moving credibly accused priests not simply between parishes but also across international borders. Unforgivable follows the movement of one such perpetrator from the Great Plains of central Minnesota to the Indigenous highlands of Guatemala, where this priest had access to children and even raised one as his own.
Although Father David Roney is at the center of this particular story, author Kevin Lewis O'Neill offers ample evidence that offshoring priests is a common practice. These maneuvers and the callous indifference of the Church—even once caught red-handed—reveal the limits of justice. They also lay bare the disturbing fact that the scale of clerical sexual abuse is far bigger than anyone has yet considered. Rigorously researched and viscerally important, this book raises urgent questions about holding the Catholic Church accountable.
Clerical sexual abuse is as global as the Roman Catholic Church, with bishops moving credibly accused priests not simply between parishes but also across international borders. Unforgivable follows the movement of one such perpetrator from the Great Plains of central Minnesota to the Indigenous highlands of Guatemala, where this priest had access to children and even raised one as his own.
Although Father David Roney is at the center of this particular story, author Kevin Lewis O'Neill offers ample evidence that offshoring priests is a common practice. These maneuvers and the callous indifference of the Church—even once caught red-handed—reveal the limits of justice. They also lay bare the disturbing fact that the scale of clerical sexual abuse is far bigger than anyone has yet considered. Rigorously researched and viscerally important, this book raises urgent questions about holding the Catholic Church accountable.
Price: $26.95
Pages: 280
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
06 October 2026
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780520435421
Format: Paperback
"A moving look at a disturbing failure of religious mores."
— Publishers Weekly
— CHOICE
— American Catholic Studies
— Publishers Weekly
“Unforgivable makes clear the extent to which the scandal lies in the systematic cover-up by Church authorities of these rogue priests’ many heinous crimes. . . . The author's important findings are rendered in wonderful prose devoid of social science jargon, making the study very accessible to undergraduates.”
— CHOICE
“This brief but beautifully written book is daring in its analysis and deserves wide-spread attention.”
— American Catholic Studies
Kevin Lewis O’Neill is Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion as well as in the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto. A cultural anthropologist, his work focuses on the moral dimensions of contemporary political practice in Latin America. His previous books include City of God, Secure the Soul, and Hunted.
Contents
Preface
I. A Priest Forever, 1945–1987
II. Becoming Deviant, 1987–1994
III. A Town without Pedophilia, 1994–2003
IV. At the Margins of Victimhood, 2003–2017
V. The Will to Survive, 2017–2023
Postscript
Acknowledgments
Reading Group Guide
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Preface
I. A Priest Forever, 1945–1987
II. Becoming Deviant, 1987–1994
III. A Town without Pedophilia, 1994–2003
IV. At the Margins of Victimhood, 2003–2017
V. The Will to Survive, 2017–2023
Postscript
Acknowledgments
Reading Group Guide
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index