Blind Faith

When Father Louis Delanoit offers to spend extra time with Jack, now twelve years old and just beginning altar boy training, Lucinda is honored to have her grandson receive special attention from the priest. But Jack's innocence is shattered when the priest's true intentions are revealed, trapping the boy in a web of silence and abuse, woven by Father Delanoit's manipulation and the blind faith of the community.

Blind Faith is the story of the Roman Catholic clergy sexual abuse crisis as seen through the eyes of young Jack O'Donnell and his family in the late 60s and early 70s, and the pain, heartache, and challenge to their faith which they endured because of one priest's abuse and the systematic cover-up engaged in by church hierarchy.

This is a book I could not put down. After reading Blind Faith, I will never again read a newspaper article about clergy sexual abuse without thinking of the victims and their obedient families.
- A Must Read for All who ask themselves:
'How did this Clergy Sex Abuse happen?'
The answer will improve the chances that it does not happen again.
Peggy Murphy

"Janet Clark has written a compassionate, enlightening, frustrating, believable, true to life novel about a subject where there are no happy endings, only survival."
Robert Charles Wolf

For Book Clubs: Read Blind Faith and follow up with a movie night. Two award-winning films on the subject of clergy sexual abuse are Deliver Us From Evil and Hand of God.

Excerpt

Blind Faith

While Lucinda was trying to contact the bishop, Pappa was using the phone in his apartment to call his contacts in Chicago to see what they could tell him about Father Delanoit. He still had phone numbers for two old neighbors and a friend he'd played cards with, all of them long-time members of St. Mary's Church. Smoothing out the paper where he had written their numbers and laying it down on the table, Papa made his first call.

"Pronto," croaked a deep smoky voice, using the traditional Italian phone greeting.

"Sol? Sol Martino?" Pappa asked.

"Yeah. Who's this?"

"It's Tony Gargano! Sol, how are you?" he asked, surprised by the rush of emotion he felt at the sound of the crusty old fool's voice.

"Tony! Who'd have thought you were even still alive! You old fart, moving out of town on us. How are you doing?" Sol said.

"When you're as old as I am and you can still get out of bed every day, then you're doing pretty damn good. Sol, I need to ask you a question."

"Fire away. But I gotta tell you, the old brain isn't as sharp as it used to be," Sol said. As Pappa recalled, his former neighbor didn't miss much. Now, if he was just willing to share what he knew.

"Father Delanoit, Sol. Louis Delanoit. He was the priest at St. Mary's Parish about twenty years ago. Tell me about him: what did the people think of him, how long was he there, why did he leave. Anything you might have heard about the man," Pappa said.

"Let me see, Tony; Father Delanoit. That name rings a bell, but it's been a long time… oh, yes, I remember. Big, good-looking guy right out of seminary. He wasn't the fiery speaker that some of them are, but he was a smart one. And he started up a youth program at the church, trying to keep the kids from getting into trouble on the streets. Wasn't here very long, though," Sol said.

"Anything else? Did you ever hear anything about any trouble he may have gotten into while he was here?" Pappa asked.

"No, I don't remember anything about any trouble, Tony. Now, if Regina was still here, she would remember. The woman knew everything that went on at the church. And in the neighborhood, and in the family. But I never paid that much attention. Gossip's for old women, in my book," Sol said.

"Hey, Sol, you take care of yourself, you hear," Pappa said.

"You, too," he croaked. "Bye, Tony."

Pappa sighed. He had hoped that Sol could give him some information. But if he knew anything, he wasn't talking. The next call was no more helpful than the first one. His loquacious former neighbor, an elderly woman named Maria Barstinova, was no longer living in her apartment; her daughter, who was not exactly a youngster herself, said she hadn't been able to take care of Maria after the older woman had taken a fall the previous winter, so she had moved her mother to a nursing home. Pappa tried the last number.

"Pronto." Vince Barone sounded just the same as the last time he and Pappa had played a round of poker over two years ago. Pappa could picture him instantly: the thick white hair, the handlebar moustache, the jolly, harmless grin that belied Vinny's sharp native intelligence.

"Vinny! It's Tony! How are you doing, old friend?" Pappa asked.

"Tony! I was just thinking about you today. It's been a long time since I've heard your voice, too long," Vinny said. "How are things going for you in Hook's Point?"

"It's good to have family, isn't it, Vinny? My daughter spoils me rotten with her good cooking, just like her mother did. I'm happy there. But I've gotta say, I miss getting together with the old gang," Pappa said.

"Old is right, Tony. You moved away, Bobby can't make it out anymore - bum ticker - and you know that Lou passed away in April?" Vinny said.

"Yes, I heard, I heard," Pappa said. The two old friends observed a moment of silence, remembering their comrade and knowing their own time on Earth was drawing to a close. But not yet, Pappa thought. Not yet.

"Vinny, I've got to ask you something," Pappa said.

"Anything. You can ask me anything, you know it," Vinny said.

"I need you to tell me if you know anything about Father Delanoit, Father Louis Delanoit. He was at St. Mary's about twenty, twenty-five years ago. I need to know if there was any trouble of any kind, anything at all, that you heard about him," Pappa said. "I know it seems strange, but I have my reasons for asking."

Vinny hesitated. Pappa heard him take a deep breath before he replied.

"Father Delanoit was here a long time ago, Tony," Vinny said, his voice slightly cooler.

"Something happened, didn't it, Vinny? Something bad. Please, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important," Pappa said urgently.

"Nothing happened, Tony. Father Delanoit came here right after seminary. He served here a few years, like they do, and then he got transferred. That's all. Why do you ask a question like that, Tony?" Vinny said.

"Because, Vinny, I told you, it's important. I'm asking you to tell me what happened," Pappa pleaded.

"Nothing happened, Tony. Leave it. Don't go stirring things up, causing trouble," Vinny said angrily. "Nothing happened. I've got to go now, Tony. Hey," he said, his tone softening, "Call me again sometime. We'll talk about old times. Not all that garbage about stuff that happened twenty years ago."

excerpted from BLIND FAITH. Copyright© 2006 by Janet E. Clark. All rights reserved. 1st World Publishing.