Sin, Shame & Secrets: A True Story of the Murder of a Nun, the Conviction of a Priest, and the Cover-up in the Catholic Church

David Yonke tackles this blockbuster of a subject with the profesionalism of the seasoned journalist he proves to be. He unbiasly weaves a story from events that take place over nearly a fifty year span. He backs up his facts with fascinating interviews with those just and injust. As with interviews culled from all sides of those who played parts in horrific events like war crimes, Yonke's work shows how the passage of time has made some interesting and redemptive twists of perspective with those who participated or had some accountabillity in the matter. Also, disturbing as it is,he illuminates the fact that as well, time has made no difference, to some individuals responsible,yet still obsessed with self preservation,and the image of a culpable institution they will not question.

This book is a must read if you want to know what is really going on in the church. Very sad state of affairs

I read this book over Christmas with much activity going on but couldn't put it down. Living in Toledo I was well aware of the events and the trial yet only after I read the book did I understand what had really happened. I am not interested generally in this genre. This book, however, reads like a novel as far as "interesting" and reads like a documentary as far as "information". I highly recommend it!

Author David Yonke has done a wonderful job of sorting through and explaining a tangled web of cover-ups, lies, and tabu subjects that have been supressed by the Catholic Church for years. He lays it out and explains technical information in a clear and entertaining way. Once you pick it up, you can't put it down.

Sin, Shame and Secrets is a book that you will be unable to put down. David Yonke starts this story from its beginning in April 1980. In gripping and almost excruciating detail, he describes the choking and brutal stabbing of Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl. Yonke tells the emotional story of how the sisters from her religious community found Sr. Margaret's body in the chapel of the Mercy Hospital, as well as the vain attempts of emergency room physicians and nurses to revive her. He describes the early efforts of Toledo police detectives to identify and investigate Sr. Margaret's murder only to be thwarted by their police superior when leads point to catholic priest and hospital chaplain Fr. Gerald Robinson as the primary suspect. But perhaps what David Yonke describes best is the context in which the killer of a nun could escape justice for more than 20 years. Sin, Shame and Secrets discusses how catholic priests in northwestern Ohio's Toledo catholic diocese enjoyed protection from not only the catholic hierarchy, but also from local law enforcement. Yonke describes how those protections enabled crimes like sexual abuse and in this case even murder to escape punishment until courageous victims of their crimes and their advocates from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) begin speaking and demanding justice. Sin, Shame and Secrets also provides a firsthand account of the trial of the State of Ohio v. Gerald Robinson. By attending the trial from it's first day until the verdict is read, Yonke gives a perspective that belongs to a juror with the pen of a journalist. Sin, Shame and Secrets also gives details that even jurors wouldn't know. Yonke discusses what was found in a search of Robinson's home, as well as what was discovered when police executed a 2004 search warrant on Toledo diocesan headquarters. The police officers' discovery of secret files on how law enforcement favoritism and even abortions covered up priestly crimes of sexual abuse of women and minors will leave your head spinning. Sin, Shame and Secrets is as good as it is troubling. I read it in three days and then read it again. You will not be able to put this book down.