Altar Boy: A Story Of Life After Abuse

by Andrew Madden

The day Andrew Madden was molested by his favorite priest, his love of the Catholic Church was poisoned. The abuse lasted for three years, until Andrew was fifteen, and its impact went on long after. Andrew lost direction, self-esteem, and the capacity to love. Eventually, he lost himself in drink. Altar Boy tells how Andrew found his way again. This candid and sometimes searing account of how abuse can affect a life also shows that victims don't have to remain victims.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mental Health, Biography, Autobiography

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 5, 2004

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Madden was molested by a priest. It went on for 3 years, and when he told the Catholic diocese and informed the Bishop, the church did nothing but move the priest to a different parish. In what was the standard way the Catholic Church dealt with such accusations at the time, they simply enabled the priest to go on and molest more children while doing nothing for the victim and certainly not summoning the police. This part of the story made me very angry, and I could go on forever about how wrong sexual abuses and how absolutely criminal the response of the Catholic Church to demonize victims and protect offenders has been. The rest of the book is about how Andrew dealt with the abuse, it talks about his life afterwards, the struggles with anxiety, depression, and alcoholism, and describes how most of the traces back to the abuse that he suffered. I thought the book covered a lot, it really gave an honest picture of his life, I found him likable and believable, and his story was very interesting. I see that this got only a few stars from other reviewers, but I have to disagree with them – I thought it was very compelling and it really showed the way a person's life can be affected by abuse. Just because it was an overly dramatic or sensationalize doesn't mean it wasn't a good memoir.

[Morne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An account of an altar boy, molested by a Father of a Catholic Church in Dublin. The side effects he suffered years later, only to find compensation in adulthood even though it was raised whilst on school. The recovery of a dysfunctional life that came full circle after the case.

[Lainy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another sad story of a survior of abuse. Andrew Madden writes of his abuse suffered at the hands of a family priest and how his life progressed from that moment on.

Andrews life is a struggle, dealing with the emotions and consequences of what happened to him as a young boy and his way of coming to terms with what happened and what it means for his future and calling as a priest.

The book takes you on a journey through the authors childhood up to his adulthood and his struggle for justice and coming to terms with his own actions and battles as an adult trying to deal with what happened.

I found it hard to read at parts, and a lot of it surrounds the chapels dealings/responces as the authors life. Correspondance from the church authorities after the case became public are also included at the end of the story.

I gave it a 3 out of 5.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

How people survive things in their childhood to become fully functioning adults amazes me

Andrew was abused by a priest and abused by the arms of the catholic church he interacted with
his innocence along with his hopes, dreams, and his god, were taken from him by a bad man who was protected by the institution of the church

makes me glad to no longer consider myself connected to a structured religion

[Love · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just can not stick with this one...Which is not surprising I have tried this church type abuse books beofor and not made it through those...I will not be ordering anymore of this type books.

[Danbob89 · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing how strong people are to write their story with so many horrible memories

[Tim]

What Andrew went through at the hands of a priest A man he looked up to is beyond belief all his dreams shattered and as he reached adulthood his life spiralling out of control as he turn to drink trying to blot out the agony of the past and a lot of confusion about his sex life all ending up in a battle for compensation And to stop the R/C Church sweeping it under the carpet and to save other children from his fete as he fought for a proper investigation