Author photo of Stephanie Mansfield

Stephanie Mansfield

Stephanie Mansfield is an award-winning, nationally recognized writer and author. A former Washington Post reporter, she has also contributed to Vogue and GQ. Her books include The Richest Girl in the World: The Extravagant Life and Fast Times of Doris Duke (G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1992) and Whistled Like A Bird: The Untold Story of Dorothy Putnam, George Putnam and Amelia Earhart (with Sally Putnam Chapman), (Time-Warner Books, 1998).

By this Author

Some 50,000 members of the National Legion of Decency, including parochial school students, parade down Michigan Avenue in Chicago on Sept. 27, 1934, to demand "decent movies." (Shutterstock/Everett Collection)

Catholicism is good fodder for Hollywood, but that wasn't always the case

These days, Hollywood is finding the Catholic church to be a font of source material. But history between the two tells a less friendly story.

A portrait of Bishop Carroll McCormick, left, that the bishop signed and gave to family members; at right, a CNS file photo of McCormick, who headed the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, for 17 years. (Courtesy of Stephanie Mansfield; CNS file/John Zierten)

Secrets and lies: The bishop in the black Cadillac

In a 2018 grand jury report on the cover-up of child sex abuse by clergy in Pennsylvania, more than 300 priests were accused of committing abuses. Named in the report were three Scranton bishops, including my great uncle.

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