Spotlight on U.S. Catholic History: Reinterpreting the Past after Clerical Sex Abuse
Thursday, March 21, 2024 12pm to 1pm
About this Event
24 Quincy Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/centers/boisi-center/events/archive/spring-2024-events/spotlight-on-u-s--catholic-history--reinterpreting-the-past-afte.htmlKathleen Sprows Cummings, professor of history and American Studies from the University of Notre Dame, will give a luncheon colloquium at the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life.
This presentation explores the history of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston using documents generated by and related to the Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigation (2002). Foregrounding Catherine Mulkerrin, a Sister of St. Joseph who handled allegations reported to the Archdiocese of Boston between 1992 and 1994, it shows how even a glancing engagement with sources on clerical sex abuse invites historians to revisit familiar texts and rethink their interpretations of the American Catholic past.