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The Altar Boys
- Narrated by: Abbe Holmes
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Boys with everything to live for. A community betrayed. The whistle-blower priest who paid the ultimate price.
Glen Walsh and Steven Alward were childhood friends in their tight-knit working-class community in Shortland, on the outskirts of Newcastle, New South Wales. Both proud altar boys at the local Catholic church, they went on to attend the city's Catholic boys' highs schools: Glen to Marist Brothers and Steven to St Pius X. Both did well: Steven became a journalist; Glen a priest. But when Glen discovered another priest was sexually abusing boys, he reported the offending to police, breaking Canon Law and his vows to the Catholic 'brotherhood' in the process. Just weeks before he was due to give evidence at a key trial against the highest cleric to ever be charged with covering up child abuse, Father Glen Walsh was dead. Two months later, his friend Steven also died, only weeks before he was to marry the love of his life. Ensuing investigations revealed that at least 60 men in the region had taken their own lives. Why? What had happened, and why were so many from the three Catholic high schools in the area?
By six-time Walkley Award-winning investigative reporter Suzanne Smith, The Altar Boys is the powerful exposé of widespread and organised clerical abuse of children in an 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 and explosive 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.
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- michele
- 23-08-2020
Incredible! An evil and corrupt to the core church coverup over decades
A priest who lost his life because he spoke out about the criminal activity. Innocent children whose lives have been destroyed. The lives of their families and friends who will never recover.
Suzanne Smith you are courageous. A woman of strength and determination. The vicarious trauma that you have endured to bring this information to the public will be appreciated by generations to come.
Anne Holmes: your reading is exemplary. After listening to hundreds of audio books your delivery is by far the very best.
CONGRATULATIONS. MAY THIS BOOK EXPOSE MORE AND BRING JUSTICE.
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- Anonymous User
- 13-10-2020
Sad that it needed to be written
sadly I knew almost everyone mentioned in this book and could put names and faces to those who wished to remain anonymous.
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- Anonymous User
- 11-01-2022
Gripping
Unbelievable stories of the atrocities committed by priests and the church. A great read that shines a light on the suffering of victims and cover ups.
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- Jacqueline E Slee
- 24-12-2021
An important book
I attended these schools in the 1970s and 1980s and knew so many of the priests discussed. Some of them I even loved. But there was always an undercurrent of evil in the Diocese. My mother reported emotional abuse to Coolahan in the 70s and his response to her when she threatened to go to the police was "Prove it". I was a child then and am grateful now to better understand that world I grew up in. Grateful, but disgusted beyond words.
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- Anonymous User
- 20-03-2022
A friend of Glen Walsh
I personally knew Glen when he came to our parish after being kicked out of Maitland-Newcastle. As I got to know him, I disclosed my personal experience in being abused by a priest who used his power over me. Glen broke down and cried. I never understood why. He became distant with me as years went on, again, I struggled to understand why.
This book, (as hard as it is to take in the atrocities committed by horrible monsters), gave me the closure I needed to understand the traumatic life my beautiful, saintly, holy friend, Father Glen Walsh ensured. Glen was the epitome of purity, a true man of God, with a heart of love.
Thank you Suzanne for your straight-shooting approach to the reader. No fluff. Just the cold, hard, dirty truth. The truth that needed to be exposed.
To the families who suffered, and the survivors, my heart is with you. We live on to tell our story.
To all the victims and Glen, Rest In Peace you beautiful souls. You are all angels watching over us.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-02-2023
A story that must be told
This is a very challenging book to listen to, but I think it is an essential story to be heard. Everyone should hear about the shameful past of the Newcastle-Maitland Diocese of the Catholic Church to ensure it never occurs again under any guise - religious or secular. I am grateful to Suzanne Smith for writing it.
René Smith
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