International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 1, No. 1, 2010 95
La explotación de la fe: pastores que abusan sexual y económicamente
(The Exploitation of Faith: Pastors Who Abuse Sexually and Economically)
Jorge Erdely, Ph.D.
Reviewed by Katherine V. Masís, Ph.D.
Ediciones B. 2008. ISBN: 978-970-710-268-3.
Amazon.com: $19.95 (paperback). 376 pages.
Despite the fact that sexual abuse and financial
exploitation in Catholic and Protestant churches
are just as present in Latin America as in the rest
of the world, there are few books that address
this issue for a Latin American audience. Jorge
Erdely’s La explotación de la fe: pastores que
abusan sexual y económicamente is a welcome
contribution in this regard. Erdely documents
cases of church abuse specifically in Mexico,
but they are also common to other Latin
American countries. Girls, boys, and women,
including nuns, are the most vulnerable and
targeted populations for sexual abuse. But when
it comes to financial exploitation, no one is safe.
Lies, shaming tactics, stealing of inheritances,
and threatening of both female and male
members with expulsion from the congregation
unless they pay up are not alien practices to
greedy clergy in both Catholic and Protestant
churches.
According to Erdely, justice is rarely served,
even when some pedophiles confess. Priests
continue to perform their liturgical duties and to
have contact with children and parishioners.
Ironically, victims of abuse from Catholic priests
had more rights during colonial times than they
do today. For example, seventeenth-century
Jesuit priest Gaspar de Villarias harassed and
abused more than ninety women in Mexico in
his lifetime. After having confessed his sexual
transgressions in 1625, he was stripped of his
priestly functions and put under a two-year
monastic arrest. This was a far harsher
punishment than any actions taken today against
dishonest and abusive priests, some of whose
victims run in the hundreds.
Erdely says that women who see male doctors or
psychotherapists are less at risk for inappropriate
sexual advances than women who turn to their
priests or pastors for help. Always under public
scrutiny, at least doctors and therapists have
professional codes of ethics and can have their
licenses removed, or can even face jail
sentences. Priests and ministers receive minimal
reprimands and negligible punishments—if
any—from their churches.
The Catholic Church has consistently protected
its priests despite overwhelming proof of
wrongdoing there is simply too much invested
in protecting what Erdely calls its “institutional
image” and reputation. Protestant churches have
had their share of scandals, too. Erdely mentions
troubling cases in Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well
as in Anglican and Neo-Pentecostal churches.
Nevertheless, the situation is worse with
independent churches with no denominational
affiliation. Lacking formal checks and balances,
pastors of independent churches answer to no
one but themselves, and therefore are more
prone to foster environments where abuse and
excess may run rampant.
In both Catholic and Protestant churches, peers,
even when they have been informed of their
fellow clergymen’s misconduct, rarely side with
the congregation, says Erdely. Plain cowardice,
blind loyalty, denial, lack of empathy for human
suffering, complicity, and professional
ambitions are among the reasons Erdely lists for
peers’ silence on the issue.
Authoritarianism, thirst for absolute control,
manipulation, dogmatism, fear tactics, shaming
techniques, group pressure, and the twisting of
scriptures and doctrine to fit the needs of the
clergy are signs churchgoers should be wary of.
Erdely finds support in biblical passages for
fighting back, and he encourages readers to
leave abusive groups and to sue and publicly
denounce them if possible.
La explotación de la fe: pastores que abusan sexual y económicamente
(The Exploitation of Faith: Pastors Who Abuse Sexually and Economically)
Jorge Erdely, Ph.D.
Reviewed by Katherine V. Masís, Ph.D.
Ediciones B. 2008. ISBN: 978-970-710-268-3.
Amazon.com: $19.95 (paperback). 376 pages.
Despite the fact that sexual abuse and financial
exploitation in Catholic and Protestant churches
are just as present in Latin America as in the rest
of the world, there are few books that address
this issue for a Latin American audience. Jorge
Erdely’s La explotación de la fe: pastores que
abusan sexual y económicamente is a welcome
contribution in this regard. Erdely documents
cases of church abuse specifically in Mexico,
but they are also common to other Latin
American countries. Girls, boys, and women,
including nuns, are the most vulnerable and
targeted populations for sexual abuse. But when
it comes to financial exploitation, no one is safe.
Lies, shaming tactics, stealing of inheritances,
and threatening of both female and male
members with expulsion from the congregation
unless they pay up are not alien practices to
greedy clergy in both Catholic and Protestant
churches.
According to Erdely, justice is rarely served,
even when some pedophiles confess. Priests
continue to perform their liturgical duties and to
have contact with children and parishioners.
Ironically, victims of abuse from Catholic priests
had more rights during colonial times than they
do today. For example, seventeenth-century
Jesuit priest Gaspar de Villarias harassed and
abused more than ninety women in Mexico in
his lifetime. After having confessed his sexual
transgressions in 1625, he was stripped of his
priestly functions and put under a two-year
monastic arrest. This was a far harsher
punishment than any actions taken today against
dishonest and abusive priests, some of whose
victims run in the hundreds.
Erdely says that women who see male doctors or
psychotherapists are less at risk for inappropriate
sexual advances than women who turn to their
priests or pastors for help. Always under public
scrutiny, at least doctors and therapists have
professional codes of ethics and can have their
licenses removed, or can even face jail
sentences. Priests and ministers receive minimal
reprimands and negligible punishments—if
any—from their churches.
The Catholic Church has consistently protected
its priests despite overwhelming proof of
wrongdoing there is simply too much invested
in protecting what Erdely calls its “institutional
image” and reputation. Protestant churches have
had their share of scandals, too. Erdely mentions
troubling cases in Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well
as in Anglican and Neo-Pentecostal churches.
Nevertheless, the situation is worse with
independent churches with no denominational
affiliation. Lacking formal checks and balances,
pastors of independent churches answer to no
one but themselves, and therefore are more
prone to foster environments where abuse and
excess may run rampant.
In both Catholic and Protestant churches, peers,
even when they have been informed of their
fellow clergymen’s misconduct, rarely side with
the congregation, says Erdely. Plain cowardice,
blind loyalty, denial, lack of empathy for human
suffering, complicity, and professional
ambitions are among the reasons Erdely lists for
peers’ silence on the issue.
Authoritarianism, thirst for absolute control,
manipulation, dogmatism, fear tactics, shaming
techniques, group pressure, and the twisting of
scriptures and doctrine to fit the needs of the
clergy are signs churchgoers should be wary of.
Erdely finds support in biblical passages for
fighting back, and he encourages readers to
leave abusive groups and to sue and publicly
denounce them if possible.
