| ISBN |
9780733340178 |
| Author |
Smith, Suzanne (author) |
| Title |
The altar boys / Suzanne Smith. |
| Cover title |
Altar boys : a powerful true story. |
| Publisher and/or associated date/s |
Sydney, NSW : ABC Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Australia, 2020. |
| ©2020. |
| Description |
xviii, 327 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly colour), portraits (chiefly colour) ; 24 cm. |
| Note |
"Children with everything to live for ; A community betrayed ; The whistleblower priest who paid the ultimate price" -- Cover. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references. |
| Summary |
Glen Walsh and Steven Alward were childhood friends in their tight-knit working-class community in Newcastle, NSW. Both proud altar boys at the local Catholic church, they went on to attend the city's Catholic boys' high schools: Glen to Marist Brothers and Steven to St Pius X. Both did well: Steven became a journalist; Glen a priest. Glen discovered another priest was sexually abusing boys and reported the offender to police, breaking his vows to the Catholic 'brotherhood' in the process. His decision to give evidence regarding the cover-up of clerical abuse at a landmark trial ended in tragedy. Meanwhile, Steven was fighting his own battle to overcome a traumatic past, a battle that also ended in tradegy. Ensuing investigations revealed that at least 60 men in the region had taken their own lives. What had happened, and why were so many of those men from the three Catholic high schools in the area? This is a powerful exposé of widespread and organised clerical abuse of children in one Australian city. |
| Subjects |
Walsh, Glen |
| Alward, Steven |
| Catholic Church -- Clergy -- Australia |
| Catholic Church. -- Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle (N.S.W.) |
| Catholic Church -- New South Wales |
| Child sexual abuse -- Australia |
| Catholic high schools -- New South Wales |
| Child sexual abuse by clergy -- Australia |
| Christianity and justice -- Catholic Church |
| Sexual misconduct by clergy -- Australia |
| Newcastle (N.S.W.) |
| Call number |
2020.257 |
