Diocesan files and court cases are precious sources of survivors' witness. Legal affidavits are the the most detailed and personal accounts we have of sexual abuse by priests, and the nearly 200 bishops' archives contain thousands of survivors' accounts. These letters and memos of conversations convey the evasions and secrecy of the bishops, and the frustration and intimidation regularly experienced and overcome by victims of abuse.
Janssen in Fort Madison
This 2003 account of alleged abuse by Rev. Janssen offers an important description of a sexual abuse ring in Davenport, Iowa. But it also shows the behavior of the priests in context, and the life of one victim before and after the abuse.