How has the Pennsylvania scandal affected you personally?

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SacredHeartBassist

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Is anyone making any changes? How are you dealing with it
 
Other than praying for all involved with this latest, it’s nothing new under the sun, sadly, and doesn’t have much effect on me personally.
I am just waiting to see if Wuerl hangs in there or not and how the Pope handles this.
 
I doubt that the two diocese in PA are isolated incidents.

Reading that report (I haven’t) is like seeing a slaughterhouse for the first time. Or seeing a mangled dead body for the first time. Bishops are probably well aware of the crimes due to the nature of their job. Just as other professionals are aware of not so nice things because of their jobs.

Now we get a peak behind the curtain and everyone is gasping for breath. For me it’s not the crimes that are shocking, but it’s the cover ups, the reassignments, and the hypocrisy of the gay clerical culture that are somewhat surprising.
 
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It’s not just two dioceses in PA. There were already two previous dioceses in PA investigated and this report adds an additional 6. There are also many dioceses outside PA that have yet to even do an investigation.
 
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I’ve become grimmer. I attend Mass, pray the rosary, but there’s no longer a sense that anybody can know the Faith is try by looking at our holiness. My own faith is becoming more “I assent to X and therefore will do Y” without emotional content.
 
I feel sorry for all those good and faithful priests, in Pennsylvania and around the world, who are now pointed at in the street as dangerous child molesters, with whom decent law-abiding families will avoid all contact. This is the real long-term harm that is the direct outcome of the dishonest cover-up policy pursued by far too many bishops, from Bernard Law onward.
 
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I don’t really care about it. Might be because I’m hard-hearted or something.
 
I can tell you that I am totally heartbroken for the victims, frustrated and angry at the hierarchy in the Church and wondering what my next step should be. I don’t want to donate any more money because they have spent so much on legal fees, I don’t know where my money is going, I’d rather just give to individual charities. The Bishop in our Diocese was named in an child abuse suit because he allowed a predator priest to use his beach house where he abused teens. He got off. I can tell you that even before that suit came about, I thought the man might not really believe in God, and he lives in the lap of luxury. I’m going to write to the pope, asking that priests and bishops take a vow of poverty. That will clean out a bunch of them who are in it for prestige and power. Considering these issues are also happening in the seminaries, I’d say Satan has quite a foothold. So, where do we go from here? We have to INSIST on change and protection for the children.
 
That’s awful and you should be ashamed. What if one of the victims was part of your family?
 
I’m going to be watching others in my parish community like a hawk.
 
I am writing to my state senator and reps to remove the statue of limitations here in TN. I am also asking they require the church to turn over all document related to any sexual abuses.
 
The whole thing in Pennsylvania and with Cardinal McCarrick and the other allegations that are coming out about seminaries and such have me absolutely disgusted with those who are in charge.

My own Bishop was the Secretary to the Apostolic Nuncio in the early 2000’s.
Hearing that so many people tried to out McCarrick, and that so many knew what was going on, but looked the other way, has had a profound impact on how I feel about my own Bishop. I can barely look him in the face, as I see him as part of the problem.

I will continue to pray, and I just registered for classes so that I can complete my Master’s degree in theology/pastoral ministry. The Church is going to need educated, and empathetic people if we are ever going to heal from this tragedy.
 
While I agree that something needs to be done, I am not sure if this is it.
They are trying this in my state, but they are exempting anyone who works in “public sector”, so it would only really apply to religious/private organizations. What about all the abuse that takes place in schools, state run homes/hospitals, etc. This is not just a religious problem, so if the state is going to get involved, it better be for all who betray the trust of minors.
 
I’m going to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. I hope that the value of penance is stressed again from our shepherds and they lead us by example. But even if they don’t, I’m doing what I can.

I know some who were named in the report, not as abusers but those who helped to cover it up. I really hope they address these remarks in a straightforward way. Up until now I’ve considered these particular men to have great integrity. Owning up to these failures would at least show they still have a little.
 
Honestly, I’m not feeling anything really. It’s probably because we get news about some kind of sex abuse scandal everyday everywhere in our society from Hollywood to Church. I think I’ve just accepted that a sizable fraction of the people I interact with in the world are probably perverts and nothing can change that.
 
The abuse scandal of the early 2000s filled me with a defensive desire to say it wasn’t as widespread as everyone was saying. I was a teen and had not yet knowingly encountered any abuse victims.

This scandal finds me older and more aware. More full of sorrow for victims and what it has done to their faith. This scandal seems to have a layer of the laity need to do something to it. Double down in prayer and fasting. Outpour our support for victims and the countless good and holy priests.
 
I agree. Just telling you what is happening in my state. Part of the problem is the public sector unions (i.e. Teacher’s unions) have a lot of money and pull here in NY.
 
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