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Book review: Betrayed: The English Catholic Church and the Sex Abuse Crisis

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
06 June 2014
Issue: 7609 / Categories: Features
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"His book is exhaustively researched, beautifully written, passionate yet objective & a major contribution to the literature on this heart-breaking subject"

Author: Richard Scorer
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 9781849546829
Price: £20

In 1956 Christopher Carrie, then 11 years old, was called to see Father John Tolkien, a Roman Catholic priest and son of the famous author, at the English Martyrs Presbytery in Birmingham. Tolkien gave Carrie a long talk about the “facts of life”, and then said that he needed to examine him. He ordered Carrie to strip naked, and then gave him a “special blessing”, which involved pouring holy water on Carrie’s penis and massaging it. Carrie was ordered to return the next week. The ceremony then involved rubbing Carrie’s penis between Tolkien’s praying hands. Don’t tell anyone about this, Carrie was told. If you do, Jesus will be offended, and you might lose your soul. Carrie was terrified.

The abuse wrecked Carrie’s life. He was full of self-disgust, suffered a mental breakdown, and his marriage fell apart.

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