Roman Collar Crime: Violated: The Transgressions of a Small-town Priest

by Charles A Utter

Overview

Father Joseph Brennan was an icon in the small North Dakota town of New London between 1953 and 1973. As the head of the town’s Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish and its associated boarding school, he amassed supporters with his show of dedication to the school. By recruiting elite coaches, Brennan built a high school sports empire that won state championships and strengthened a sense of pride among the town’s one thousand residents. But alongside the success story, another much darker tale was being written and ruthlessly suppressed.

Sexual assault, theft, drug distribution, and blackmail ran rampant in Brennan’s secret life. Those who aimed to expose his actions were threatened into silence as Brennan built a fortune with stolen money and destroyed the lives of those around him, all while church leaders turned a blind eye to his horrific transgressions. As Brennan’s supporters and victims clashed, the town of New London was brought to its knees.

Roman Collar Crime is based on the controversial true story of one priest who held an entire community hostage for twenty years and the curious sportswriter who finally exposed two decades of heinous actions in small town America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780692100882
Publisher:	CAP Enterprises
Publication date:	04/02/2018
Pages:	276
Sales rank:	373,763
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

Charles A. Utter holds a bachelor's degree in history from St. John's University. He spent seven years teaching and coaching at the high school level before beginning a career in finance that would span nearly four decades. Utter currently lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife.

Table of Contents

The pride of a small North Dakota community is the Our Lady of Perpetual Help School. With its elite sports teams and brand-new facilities, it’s a shining beacon of success in a town of fewer than one thousand people. The school’s accomplishments are veiled by an air of innocence and righteousness. Rumors emerge, as they do in small towns, but they never quite flourish.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help has just secured the 1970 state basketball championship, and sportswriter Frank Nash sits down for an interview with the man behind it all—Father Joseph Brennan. But as Nash digs further into Brennan’s work in the town, he begins to peek behind the veil, and he finds that something sinister awaits.

Nash’s story on a winning basketball team contorts into a shocking tale of sexual assault, corruption, and the trusted man who terrorized an entire town for years.

Editorial Reviews

Corvallis, Oregon

We are not from New England, North Dakota nor are we Catholic but we found this book riveting. The story of unending abuse by a man in a trusted and revered position happens, sadly, all too often. While the names have been changed the story is true. The happenings depicted in this book are forty and fifty years old but there are far too many similarities to events and to abusers we all hear and read about today. This is a quick read but a memorable book. It urges all of us to expose and punish those persons who use their power and wealth to abuse the most vulnerable among us.

As sad & horrifying as this book is, I believe it was a story that must be told. It was well written. I had a hard time putting it down! There were so many victims of this evil man. Hopefully, we learn from the past!! Thank you to the author!

This was a very interesting and eye-opening read. I grew up in that community and we always heard many of the rumors. It was fascinating to hear their explanation and verification. That entire 20 year period was very difficult for all the people who lived there. It was both painful and absorbing. Amazing that one person could exhibit so much power and control over the people in his church

A very interesting, but disturbing, look into the power and control this particular priest had. Pretty sad it lasted so long and that our Bishop was no better!

What a psychopath!!! It's not difficult to understand why people abandon their faith. After reading this book, I think the community needed an exorcism to rid them of this demon!!

What a powerful book. It is a tough read, but worth reading. We see this repeated in the world of gymnastics, Hollywood, etc. Power and corruption do terrible things to all people. I will be sharing and recommending this book to others.

This is a very well written book about a small town which is very close to where I grew up, which made it all the more interesting! I was glued to it until I finished it, in record time! I would highly recommend this book! Thank you, Charles Utter, for disclosing the horrific crimes in small town America!

Could not put this book down.

From the Publisher