Content note: This episode includes discussion of clergy sexual abuse, institutional responses to abuse, trauma, and the death of a loved one by suicide.
What does it mean to love the Church while asking it to face the harm done within it?
Author and Catholic educator Bill Hambleton joins The Catholic Leadership Puzzle for a candid conversation about faith, broken trust, and the responsibility of Catholic leaders to care for the people entrusted to them. Drawing on his memoir, The Sacred and Profane: A Memoir of Faith and Reckoning, Bill shares how abuse by a priest during his youth affected his discernment, his ability to trust, and his relationship with the institutional Church—while his faith continued to sustain him.
The conversation explores Bill’s account of reporting the abuse decades later, his concerns about the response he received, and his hope for meaningful reform. Together, we examine servant leadership, the difference between protecting people and protecting institutions, and the courage required to listen without becoming defensive.
Bill also reflects on his brother Matthew’s death, the prayer practices that continue to ground him, and the hope he finds in his family and students. For clergy, parish staff, ministry leaders, and lay Catholics, this episode offers a searching invitation: listen to those who have been wounded, welcome accountability, and let the care of people shape how we lead.
Key discussion points
· Faith and institutional trust are distinct. Bill describes how his faith endured even as his trust in Church leadership was profoundly damaged.
· Disclosure can require decades of courage. His story underscores how much a survivor may have overcome before approaching a Church representative.
· The response to abuse matters deeply. Bill explains why the defensiveness and lack of transparency he says he encountered compounded the original harm.
· Reform requires a change in culture. He calls for the Church’s commitments to survivor care and accountability to become lived practice.
· Authentic Catholic leadership is service. The conversation draws on Lumen gentium, the Good Shepherd, and Pope Francis’s image of shepherds who remain close to their people.
· Listening and love for the Church can coexist. Taking a survivor’s experience seriously does not require abandoning one’s faith or defending every institutional action.
· Prayer sustains hope and action. Bill describes contemplative silence, family life, and teaching as continuing sources of strength.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Bill Hambleton and The Sacred and Profane
01:05 Catholic upbringing, seminary formation, and the impact of abuse
04:31 Why tell the story? Faith, broken trust, and hope for reform
08:05 Shepherding, institutional priorities, and the Dallas Charter
10:25 Beyond policy: the need for a change in Church culture
12:56 Mission, accompaniment, and accountable leadership
15:44 Servant leadership, Lumen gentium, and clericalism
18:15 Bill’s account of the investigation and barriers to transparency
21:26 Experiences of pastoral care and the importance of good shepherds
23:54 Hope, grief, and finding the courage to disclose abuse
27:49 Listening honestly: a concrete invitation for Catholics
31:32 Prayer, contemplation, and the people who sustain hope
35:20 Where to find the book and learn more
36:11 Closing challenge: care for people and hold leaders accountable
Resources
· The Sacred and Profane: A Memoir of Faith and Reckoning — official book website. Bill shares this address near the end of the interview; the site includes a purchase link and information about the memoir.
· USCCB: Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, revised June 2026. The document discussed as the Dallas Charter. Bill offers his assessment of its revisions and their limitations.
· Second Vatican Council: Lumen gentium. Bill reflects on studying this document in Rome and the tension between its vision of the Church and his own experience.
· Pope Francis: Chrism Mass homily, March 28, 2013. Original source for the image of shepherds with the smell of their sheep, recalled during the conversation.
· The Salt Lake Tribune: reporting on Bill Hambleton’s account. Bill mentions the newspaper’s coverage near the end of the interview without naming a specific article. This verified story concerns his account; access may require a subscription.
