It is too soon to know whether the sad and tawdry sexual abuse scandal that has blown out the doors and windows of the Catholic Church will result in any meaningful reforms. But it has already produced a burst of impassioned critical testimony and thinking, along with a wealth of very good writing, some of which is to be found in these pages.

The Church's annus horribilis of 2002 ultimately toppled many entrenched ecclesiastical careers, allowing a welter of marginalized players and silenced voices to speak out and to act. Not only have victim/survivors come forward in ever-increasing numbers, but, as Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea writes in her introduction to this two-issue symposium on the crisis in the Church, lay people, journalists, the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges who at other times have deferred to and colluded with the Church have also come forward, joining forces with mental health professionals to demand accountability, understanding, and reparation.