Readers’ Reactions to
The Children’s Crusade: Scandal at the Vatican by Eugene C. Bianchi

"This novel could well have been written as a documentary of combined true stories. The basic 'plot' may be fictional and seem believable. The inner workings, attitudes, intrigues and duplicity of the institutional Catholic Church and the Vatican may seem to some to be fictional or even irreverent and beyond the imagination. The powerful punch of Bianchi's book is that what may seem believable is fiction and what may appear beyond reality is sadly true. Bianchi knows well of what he writes. His exposition of the highly secretive and certainly pathological clerical sub-culture is all real. This book is one of the few that will give outsiders a clear vision of the bizarre world that has produced the plague of clerical sex abuse in our era.

--Thomas P. Doyle, OP                                            
 

“Sometimes only fiction can grasp the complexity of an event and the full range of emotion it generates.   The Children's Crusade spins a tale of lurid intrigue, revenge and cunning as it exposes the intricate web of issues plaguing the Roman Catholic Church. The child abuse scandal is the pivot on which the destruction or the reform of this age-old institution hangs. This suspenseful read with its surprise ending deepens the tragedy but also gives a glint of hope." 

--Dana Greene, Teacher and Author

"Bianchi writes powerfully about the feelings of those who experienced molestation and in so doing probes deeper into a clerical culture that has valued secrecy above all else.  This is a novel to enjoy on several levels, a page-turner that also invites serious reflection on key issues of religion and spirituality."

 --Doug McFerran, Author and Teacher

“This is a novel filled with such thrilling suspense that I had trouble putting it down.  And yet it addresses a painful and disturbing subject.  Bianchi presents contrasting views of both child sexual abuse in the church and institutional church reform in such a way that I can see the other side’s perspective.  What a powerful way to become more informed and engaged in these subjects.  And, it’s a fun read!” 

--Tom Camp, Pastoral Counselor and Family Therapist

"The plot of the book is a claim: the pope sexually abused children as a young priest.  One set of characters wants the evidence made public.  Others want to keep this and similar secrets concealed.  Sex and denial are part of a power game. The ending is so spectacular that it changed my mind about the novel.  The intrigues of adversaries within and on the margins of the Catholic Church that make up 90% of the book, could have been created for the TV series “The Sopranos”.  I read The Children’s Crusade as therapy for paranoia of papal power.  I recommend it for many other kinds of anxiety as well.”

---John Lounibos, Professor

“With the opening event, this narrative ‘hits the ground running,’ and begins to generate a degree of momentum that makes it a genuine page-turner. Like the long trail of a lighted gunpowder fuse, the action sparks and fizzes its way to a climactic ending worthy of its peers in this literary genre. Bianchi has more purpose here than merely to provide a good read. As one with a history of involvement in church reform groups, he obviously intends to keep a spotlight on the need to address the church’s sexual dysfunction—still alive in its parasitical host: authoritarian secrecy.”

--A. Regina Schulte. Teacher/Writer

 

"The story quickly became a page-turner for me. I found the cover-up around the issue of clerical child abuse a fascinating drama. The plot was intricate and the characters seemed believable. The author's knowledge of church history and his descriptions of Rome and the Vatican contributed to the story's credibility. Even conservative Catholics would enjoy the novel and might be led to re-thinking some important problems in the church."

 --John Gratzek, Professor of Veterinary Medicine

“The Children's Crusade is a modern-day allegory embodying the currents, crosscurrents and riptides of contemporary Catholic experience and belief. The characters personify all the permutations of sexual relationship exhibited by the church in America and Europe today – and then some. In all of them there is a struggle between authenticity and hypocrisy, striving to be true to themselves and still survive in an essentially medieval institution. Not even a pope can escape this dilemma.”

-- Robert R. Rahl,  College Professor and Administrator

 

“The Children’s Crusade is an eye-opener that deals frankly and openly with a major issue of contemporary sexuality. It weaves church, spirituality, life, and sexual desire all into one intriguing story. Fast-paced and gripping, it speaks well to the intention of Pope John XXIII’s aggiornamento, that is, opening the windows of the church to let fresh air in.”

--Daniel  D. Adame, Professor of  Health Education

 

“Here in Los Angeles, I’ve been waiting to see if Cardinal Mahoney will face a grand jury regarding his part in the church’s secrecy around the several, heart-breaking sexual abuse cases of children by priests.  I’ve just finished reading The Children’s Crusade: Scandal at the Vatican by Eugene C. Bianchi. I’ve found the story of Archbishop Mark Doyle and his friends’ dramatic attempt to get to the bottom of  child sexual abuse by Pope Clement XV to be riveting, provocative and suspenseful. It’s also a creative way of  promoting more openness and transparency in the church. I highly recommend it.”      

--Morgan Zo-Callahan, author, Intimate Meanderings: Conversations  Close to Our Hearts


"Once I got into it, I could not get out of it. All 440 pages of this heavy tome, zipped by me when it was not in my carry-on over the Atlantic, between flights in Vienna, in my ship's cabin on the Black Sea and all the way up the Dnieper up to Kiev. If you read, and are Catholic, you will recognize, (some by name) many characters who populate this yarn about the machinations and politics in the RC Church. Bianchi pulls from his rich experience as a former Jesuit himself who hobnobbed with various clerical players in real life and then inserts their proto-types into this fast pace adventure. They are all there, the married priests, the philandering and fatherly (literally) Archbishop, the SNAP activist, the Opus Dei types, and many more. In a surprising clever and serious way Bianchi works in the current-day ethical, spiritual, political, and practical dilemmas that face the Church, and he does a good job of defending both sides of the issue. One is caught at times asking," Well, what would you do under these circumstances?" While the reader may be able to remain a spectator in the action packed plot, but then becomes deeply involved from personal experience in the resolution of situations that involve the common good, individual conscience, articles of faith, long standing traditions and the very survival of the Roman Catholic Church as many grew up in and know now. It does get carried away in spots, as it is fiction, but at the same time it poses lingering questions that perhaps this is what life is really like in the hierarchical strata of the Roman Catholic Church."

--Robert Schutzius, PhD, secretary for ARCC (Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church)




"The Children's Crusade is a modern morality play, pitting established church doctrine against rising questions and doubts within the church itself: Does the end justify the means in seeking redress for priestly sexual transtressions against children? Should priests be set apart from human desire or should their humanity be embraced? Need church doctrine be changed, within or outside of the law? Short chapters keep the pages turning."

Trudy A. Kretchman, Professor Emeritus, Emory University