Catholic seminaries and parish rectories are perceived by many as sanctuaries of spirituality and holiness. But, have you ever been curious about what really goes on inside these mysterious "palaces of piety"? Clerical Secrets is a collection of actual stories about seminary and parish life. It is a rare peek behind the walls of a seminary and into the life of a parish priest and “exposes” the real truths unknown even to many Catholics. Clerical Secrets touches on everything from “Confessional Cockamamie” to “Biretta Madness” to “Zoltan’s Lunacy” to “Twisted Sisters” and answers such intensely burning questions as “What exactly is a “manitergium” and “What do you do with a “funghellino”? Clerical Secrets is the new “book of revelations”!!!

Sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by Catholic clergy is not a new phenomenon. Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes reveals in shocking detail a deep-seated problem that spans the Church's history.

The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church captured headlines and mobilized public outrage in January 2002. But much of the commentary that immediately followed was reductionistic, focusing on single "causes" of clerical abuse such as mandatory celibacy, homosexuality, sexual repressiveness or sexual permissiveness, anti-Catholicism, and a decadent secular culture. Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims: The Sexual Abuse Crisis and the Catholic Church, a collection of groundbreaking articles edited by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea and Virginia Goldner, eschews such one-size-fits-all theorizing. In its place, the abuse situation is explored in all its troubling complexity, as contributors take into account the experiences, respectively, of the victim/survivor, the abuser/perpetrator, and the bystander (whether family member, professional/clergy, or the community at large). Setting polemics to the side, Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims provides a sober and sobering analysis of the interlacing historical, doctrinal, and psychological issues that came together in the sexual abuse scandal. It is mandatory reading for all who seek thoughtful, informed commentary on a crisis long in the making and yet to be resolved.

A reprint of the first book on the topic of the cleric as a crime-solver in fiction. Mysterium and Mystery by William David Spencer is a primary reference of meticulous scholarship for anyone interested in mystery literature.