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Suzanne Smith

The Altar Boys Paperback – 20 August 2020

by Suzanne Smith (Author)

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Boys with everything to live for ... A community betrayed ... The whistle-blower priest who paid the ultimate price

**Shortlisted for the 2020 Walkley Book Award**

**Shortlisted for the 2021 NSW Premier's Community and Regional History Prize**

** Shortlisted for the 2021 Prime Minister's Award**

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, Hamilton, and Steven to St Pius X. Both did well: Steven became a journalist; Glen a priest.

But their lives came to be burdened by secrets kept and exposed. Glen discovered that 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 tragedy.

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?

By six-time Walkley Award-winning investigative reporter Suzanne Smith and shortlisted for the 2020 Walkley Book Award, The Altar Boys is the explosive expose of widespread and organised clerical abuse of children in one Australian city, and how the cover-up in the Catholic Church in Australia extended from parish priests to every echelon of the organisation. Focusing on two childhood friends, their families and community, this gripping story is backed by secret documents, diary notes and witness accounts, and details a deliberate church strategy of using psychological warfare against witnesses in key trials involving paedophile priests.

Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publisher

ABC Books AU
Publication date

20 August 2020
Dimensions

15.5 x 2.8 x 23.5 cm
ISBN-10

0733340172
ISBN-13

978-0733340178
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Product description

About the Author

Suzanne Smith is a six-time Walkley Award- and two-time Logie award-winning journalist. Her 27-year career in journalism includes senior editorial roles at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, including on Foreign Correspondent, Background Briefing, Radio National, ABC News, and Radio Current Affairs. She was the senior investigative reporter and producer at Lateline on ABC TV reporting stories on the cover up of clerical abuse, which helped trigger the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia. She has also written for Crikey and The Australian, and held various roles in the commercial media.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ ABC Books AU (20 August 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0733340172
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0733340178
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.5 x 2.8 x 23.5 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 67,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 7 in Criminal Gangs
- 21 in Children's Christian Ministry
- 80 in Religion & Sociology

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72 ratings

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Patricia

A dreadful time for altar boys in Newcastle

Reviewed in Australia on 13 September 2020

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This is a harrowing account of the indescribable raping of young boys at the hands of priests and brothers in the Newcastle/Maitland area. Whilst the Catholic Church stands condemned for its awful cover-ups of such heinous crimes, the author, Suzanne Smith, became far too-repetitive in her descriptions of people, their titles, the schools and colleges and the various NSW Government Acts such as the Ombudsman' Act. Instead of describing the abovementioned things once, Smith would keep repeating them ad nauseum. I got it the first time. If she was not so repetitive, I think the book would have had more gravitas. However, that is not taking anything away from her account of the extremely abysmal decisions made from the Pope down in covering up these crimes in order to save mother church. In doing so and in not being honest, they have done more damage to the church and in this respect Smith has convinced the reader accordingly.

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Debbie Mullins

An important read

Reviewed in Australia on 21 September 2020

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Just finished reading #TheAltarBoys. A factual and deeply moving account of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in the Maitland diocese. Having grown up a Catholic, having attended school in that diocese, knowing people who have been victims of this sort of abuse, it is also personal for me. The very great difficulties experienced by those families who loved their church, had a deep faith and were abandoned and victimised by members of the church is a heart-breaking read, but an important one. Not everyone will be able to read this book, and that is okay. Looking after your mental health is most important and only you know if you are up for it. I do recommend it for those who think they can manage it. Well done Suzanne Smith. You’ve done a great service to your friend and all those impacted by these events.

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Jim

The Roman Catholic Church Hierarchy is Ruthless & Heartless

Reviewed in Australia on 12 September 2020

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This book encapsulates the fact that the hierarchy in Rome, and some bishops & cardinals around the world, only want to protect the "bella figura"......the Church's public face......and bad luck for anyone who gets in their way.......whether they be abuse victims seeking compensation or priests/bishops of good conscience, who try to push reform in the Church. Fr Glenn Walsh, a good man and dedicated priest, ended his life because he could no longer cope with the way he was treated by his Church, all because he tried to help abuse victims and fell foul of a bishop and, subsequently, fell foul of the highest echelons of the Church. Essential reading.

Reviewed in Australia on 14 September 2020

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This is a terrific read. I was once a teacher in a Catholic school and one of the religious at the school was a paedophile. I never suspected him. So , this book illustrates the secrecy and then the cover ups that went on in Catholic Education.

Reviewed in Australia on 12 September 2020

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This was a tragic expose of the ruination of the lives of young boys by the paedophiles priests and brothers in the Newcastle Maitland dioceses.
The Clergy acted like criminal gangs by the way they exploited these young boys, and showed no remorse for their actions either.
To make matters worse, the Catholic church covered it up by not reporting their crimes to the police, and just kept moving these paedophiles from parish to parish, where they continued their criminal activity.
The Church has much to answer.

Reviewed in Australia on 14 December 2020

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This was a well written book. The author set it out like a puzzle, as you switched life stories of different characters.
It was well researched and as a non NSW resident, I had no idea of the depth and damage this episode of the church had caused. I wish the author would write a follow up (current) as well on Pell. Really enjoyed this book

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Therese

Why this book is so important

Reviewed in Australia on 7 October 2020

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With sadness I read this book and how many families are affected and how many man who have been affected, who lost their life’s because their pain was too big. Why read this book.? We need to be educated and be aware how immoral some clerical people can be who give such a bad name to Christianity.

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Brian P

TRUST. Alway protect and listen to your children

Reviewed in Australia on 13 December 2020

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It was compelling and well written. This is not a book that you would say you like. The things that went on were shocking and the offenders were people of trust, but also SCUMB BAGS.

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Donny Rock

Horific story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 July 2021

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Exposé of the scandal in Australia over the paedophilic habits of some of the Catholic clergy and the cover-up by colleagues. It's not a terribly well-constructed book, but it is hugely important.

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