To be blunt, this and other recent scandals of the Church make it harder for me to defend being Catholic to my friends and family.
It’s exhausting to keep having to explain to people why I still go to mass or donate money to my parish or Catholic organizations. Completely exhausting and deflating. In my heart I know that the Church is bigger and better than these evil people, but the effect they’ve had on thousands of victims and their families has damaged my own faith.