“Unraveling the Shadowed Life of Father Earl Bierman: A Spiritual Struggle Against the Darkness Within”
Police and prosecutors believe Earl Bierman sexually abused hundreds of children during his career as a priest and teacher. His superiors in the church privately identified 73 different boys he had victimized.
Earl Bierman’s ministry led to depression, shame, divorce, suicide and murder. He used sacraments as recruiting tools to find new victims. He taught idealistic young boys to plot against teachers, helped seminarians mislead their bishops and persuaded his own victims to cover up for him.
Sexual abuse is a multi-faceted pathology. But a greater sickness, an institutional cancer, is at play here. The crimes of Earl Bierman and the bishops of Covington were in sync with events across the river in Cincinnati, Ohio – and 30 years later, around the world.
