Just in time for the holidays, autographed copies of The Children's Crusade: Scandal at the Vatican are available directly from the author for only $15.00 (including shipping). Whether you're looking for a memorable gift or a great read for yourself, be sure to take advantage of this temporary discount. Click here to purchase a copy via Paypal or read on for more information.
Move over, Dan Brown. You have serious competition in the religious thriller genre. Eugene Bianchi, himself once a Jesuit priest and afterward a respected academic, knows how to write a sexy, fast-moving piece of fiction.
In an intense sequel to The Bishop of San Francisco that is ripped from the headlines, Bianchi's maverick hero puts his life on the line to confront the deadly consequences of the clerical abuse of children and the conspiracy of silence that has allowed it to continue.
new: read the exciting first chapter for yourself
History
professor Dan Harrington and Sister Frankie Latrobe, a
feisty African-American nun, uncover allegations of child abuse
involving Pope Clement
XV. Liberal Archbishop Mark Doyle, a continuing thorn for the
Vatican
for his
liberal ideas and a romantic relationship that produced
Their investigation takes them to Frankfurt where Pope Clement taught in the mid-seventies. Leads uncover a middle-aged brother and sister from a prominent German family who claim to have been abused as teens by the man who is now Pope.
With support from Mark, Dan, and Frankie, the siblings go public, provoking an explosion of worldwide publicity. A right-wing Catholic group, Ordo Novus, traces the Archbishop’s connection to the child abuse controversy, and stalks Mark, Dan, and Frankie in order to shut them up.
Pressure mounts on the Pope, as demonstrations around the Vatican and elsewhere intensify, calling for him to resign. Clement wrestles with his conscience and chooses a drastic action to solve his dilemma.
Their investigation takes them to Frankfurt where Pope Clement taught in the mid-seventies. Leads uncover a middle-aged brother and sister from a prominent German family who claim to have been abused as teens by the man who is now Pope.
With support from Mark, Dan, and Frankie, the siblings go public, provoking an explosion of worldwide publicity. A right-wing Catholic group, Ordo Novus, traces the Archbishop’s connection to the child abuse controversy, and stalks Mark, Dan, and Frankie in order to shut them up.
Pressure mounts on the Pope, as demonstrations around the Vatican and elsewhere intensify, calling for him to resign. Clement wrestles with his conscience and chooses a drastic action to solve his dilemma.
Autographed copies will be available directly from the author for $15.00 (including shipping). Please email me at releb@emory.edu with any request for a more personalized autograph. Orders may be sent either through PayPal (below) or by sending a check for $15.00 to:
Eugene Bianchi, P.O. Box 49397, Athens, GA 30604
Eugene
Bianchi, an emeritus
professor of religion at Emory University, is the author of numerous
books and essays with topics ranging from church reform, religion and
ecology to creative aging. Bianchi, a former Jesuit, is presently
writing a memoir about changes in his spirituality over the years. His
personal experience and scholarship gives him a unique perspective on
church conflict that allows him to shape a story that rings true. He
has been a leader in church reform organizations as the founding
president of the Society of Priests for a Free Ministry (now Federation
of Christian Ministries) and also a board member of ARCC, Association
for the Rights of Catholics in the Church. Bianchi hails
from Oakland, California, and presently
makes his home in Athens, Georgia with his wife, Margaret Herrman.
"This is an outstanding book."
"This is an outstanding book."
--Thomas Doyle, OP
“The sex abuse scandal has been the source of a major crisis of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide for more than a decade. This scandal becomes the subject of a fast-paced novel, The Children’s Crusade by Eugene Bianchi, ex-Jesuit and Emeritus Professor of Religion at Emory University. Bianchi’s novel pits the reform wing of Catholicism, exemplified by the Voice of the Faithful, a movement that arose out of the sex abuse scandal in Boston, with the extreme Catholic right. The story was so engrossing that I found it hard to put down. A really good novel.”
---Rosemary
R. Ruether
–Theologian
and Author
The Children's Crusade is a fun and interesting read. I found it fascinating, not only because of its what-will-the-pope-do? ending, but also because it dealt with the intriguing, often surprising, political and social machinations of clergy -- from priest to cardinal -- in the Catholic Church.
--Dot
Sparer, Communications Specialist
“I
enjoyed
the well-rounded
characters who quickly capture the imagination. The novel emphasizes
authentic
dialog that puts the reader in the center of the action. Vivid imagery
about
the characters and places lets the reader experience concrete
situations. The
plot unfolds in a graceful but brisk pace as the intrigue expands and
intersects. The story keeps one interested with its intersection of
scenes and
different perspectives. A fascinating read.”
Mark Doyle, a unique Catholic bishop, is a church reformer and a martial arts expert. He falls wildly in love with his therapist, Miriam Faberini, a Central American with Italian family roots. Mark and Miriam met during the Nicaraguan civil war. Such a love affair complicates a supposedly celibate bishop’s life, especially since Mark wants to continue his work as the youngest Archbishop of San Francisco. His troubles multiply when two of his priests are murdered: Gus D’Amato, a gay pastor in the city’s Castro district and Roger Moriarty, a close friend and liberation theology activist just returned from Latin America. A clandestine Catholic group, Ordo Novus, claims responsibility for both killings, and vows to eliminate Doyle as a symbol of corrupt liberalism and naïve leftist politics in the church. The Vatican denies any links to Ordo Novus, but calls Doyle to Rome to answer damaging allegations against him. His shadowy nemesis, a priest defrocked for sexually abusing teenage boys, dogs the Archbishop’s every step. Catholic clergy might deny any similarity to the controversial Doyle. Yet his story displays deep tensions in priests’ personal lives and in the still medieval structures of today’s church.
"Eugene Bianchi's fast-paced novel centers in the liberal reforming bishop of San Francisco, Mark Doyle, in love with his therapist. Around them swirl all the conflicts of contemporary Catholicism: liberation theology, the role of women in the Church, celibacy, homosexuality, pedophile priests. Dark forces opposed to Church reform conspire against them, plotting violence and assassinations of priests, in a story that ranges from Nicaragua to Northern California and Rome. A fun read you will not be able to put down until you finish."
--Rosemary Radford Ruether
Carpenter Professor of Feminist Theology
Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California
"Surprising, shocking piece of fiction from a well known scholar quite obviously off on a lark. He's created a bigger-than-life bishop, a liberation theologian who does akido, drinks Dewars, canoodles on a regular basis with his shrink-lover and leads his flock into near-schism while the Vatican pushes for his quiet resignation and a psychotic stalker tries to kill him. If this novel is a mischievous preview of the Church-to-come, we're in for quite a roller-coaster ride. What fun! "
--Robert Blair Kaiser, author, contributing editor, Newsweek magazine
Autographed
copies are available at a discount ($12 + $3 shipping and handling)
directly from the author.
NOW
AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME
When Eugene Bianchi retired from Emory University, a group of writers who had shared his interests over the years contributed to a volume entitled Selving: Linking Work to Spirituality. Edited by William Cleary and published by Marquette University Press in 2000, the title is inspired by a word invented by the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to express the idea that "what I do is me." Contributors include a variety of well-known authors, including Andrew Greeley, Robert Blair Kaiser, and Rosemary Reuther. Along with Bianchi's own story , each of the fifteen narratives can be thought of as an exercise in "story theology"--what tasks they found most enlivening and most meaningful to create a realilzation of "a unique sense of belonging" in the great scheme of things.
A limited number of signed copies are now available directly from Eugene Bianchi at a discounted price of $12
(including shipping and handling).