• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

To those who gave substantial time for interviews and follow-up questions: Sister Christine Schenk, CSJ, Christopher Kunze, Jeff Anderson, Manny Vega, Juan Vaca, José Barba, Nicholas Cafardi, Tom Doyle, Marci Hamilton, Ginny Hull, Ray Boucher, Anthony Dimarco, Steve Rubino, Patrick Wall, John Manly, Paul Lennon, Glenn Favreau, Genvieve Kineke, Melanie Bonvicino, Santiago Feliciano Jr., Joseph Smith, Phil Kushner, Cleveland city councilman Mike Polensek, and Massachusetts state representative Brian Wallace.

A special appreciation to Clancy DuBos of New Orleans’s Gambit Weekly for publishing my first reports on parish closings.

In my research consulting for ABC News, I’ve been privileged to work with Brian Ross, Rhonda Schwartz, Ron Claiborne, and Bill Blakemore.

Journalist Betty Clermont, author of The Neo-Catholics, provided valuable research, often on short notice; Michael J. Luke of WWL TV, New Orleans, did extensive Web research; and Alessandro Speciale in Rome, a correspondent with GlobalPost and other outlets, who helped with reporting for the second chapter and generously assisted me in the Vatican research. Thanks also to Dennis Sadowski of Catholic News Services.

For various forms of help in Rome: Robert Mickens, correspondent for The Tablet; Massimo Franco of Corriere della Sera; Sandro Magister of L’Espresso; Nicole Winfield of the Associated Press; Marco Politi of La Repubblica; Eldio Fazi and Olimpia Ellero of Fazi Editore; Giovanni Avena of Adista; Gioia Avvantaggia; the Reverend Frederico Lombardi, SJ, of the Holy See Press Office; the author and journalist Philip Willan; John Phillips; Patrizia Velletri; Kristine Ward; author Michael Mewshaw; Cinzia Scagliarini; Glenn Favreau; Paul Lennon; and José Barba. For assistance in translations from the Italian, Grady Hardy and Rosy Santella.

In Mexico City, muchisimas gracias to Jose de Cordoba of the Wall Street Journal and his wife, Gina Manfredo, for invaluable assistance; author David Lida; José Barba for sharing his indefatigable research and contacts; Ciro Gómez Lleyva, the broadcast journalist and editor and columnist for Milenio, for his long coverage of Maciel. A special tribute to Carmen Aristegui of CNN Mexico and MVS Radio for her continuing focus on these issues and for her narration of the Spanish edition of my film. Carmen’s compelling book, Marcial Maciel: Historia de un criminal (Grijalbo), was published as I finished this one. I owe a special debt to Roberta Garza, a Milenio editor who shared her family history in interviews and subsequently published articles of mine in translation. I am grateful to attorney José Bonilla for his assistance in a long and informative interview. I have profited from the scholarship of Jean Meyer, Fernando M. González, and Elio Masferrer Kan and from dialogue with each of them. Alejandro Espinosa (author of El Legionario), Saúl Barrales, José Antonio Pérez Olvera, Arturo Jurado, and Juan José Vaca waged a long struggle against Maciel at the Vatican. I thank them for their trust; likewise, the Reverend Félix Alarcón who spent a day with me in Madrid, opening portals to the past. The author Alfonso Torres Robles was equally helpful during my time in Madrid.

For fielding questions from Chile, thanks to journalist Pascale Bonnefoy, and to Andrea Insunza, coauthor of a valuable book on the Legion.

Charles Sennott, managing editor of GlobalPost, provided an outlet for my initial reports from Rome in 2009. A former Boston Globe correspondent, Charlie gave advice on the Boston chapters. Carl M. Cannon, author and executive editor of PoliticsDaily, also provided a forum for my articles, and a sharp reading of the California chapter. Thanks also to PoliticsDaily editor in chief Melinda Henneberger and PD religion correspondent David Gibson.

Michael Paulson of the Boston Globe was helpful at the start of my work in 2008; so were columnist Kevin Cullen, former Spotlight team editor Walter V. Robinson, reporters Stephen Kurkjian and Michael Rezendes along the