Podles has the investigative skills and background and the intellectual and academic credentials to present a book that not only tells the story of the tragic Catholic clergy sex abuse nightmare, but why it happened. This book is foundational to an accurate comprehension of this complex and highly emotional issue. Having read just about every book on the topic I find Podles' book a heavyweight in the very best sense. His style is somewhat unique in that he fortifies his analytical opinions with well laid out factual cases. The book reads well but it should and will evoke strong feelings as it brings to life one of the greatest scandals the instititional Catholic Church has faced and continues to experience.

As a journalist who has been doing research on clergy sex abuse for five years, I consider "Sacrilege" to be a seminal work, the best yet of the many books on this subject. It is biblical in its scope and depth. It provides telling detail of the horrific abuses of Catholic priests, but goes beyond that to blame the bishops for condoning and covering up this worst scandal in the history of the American Catholic church. And it puts a proper focus on the children who suffered greatly from the abuses. I recommend this book as a must read for all those who want to know how a lack of accountability allowed a huge religious bureaucracy to become corrupted at the core.--Joe Rigert, Minneapolis, MN.