How has the Pennsylvania scandal affected you personally?

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I used to live in the Diocese of Pittsburgh until 2009 when I graduated college and moved for my job (coincidentally I now reside in the Archdiocese of Washington - where Cardinal Wuerl is, who used to be Bishop of Pittsburgh for most of the time I lived there).

I looked through the list of priests on the Diocese of Pittsburgh’s website and I did recognize one name - he was one of the priests on the list of priests who had an allegation made against him (not necessarily substantiated) after his death. He was the priest who was pastor at my home parish where I lived until 2009 (the priest in question died of a heart attack in the late 90s). My mother, who died earlier this year, loved this priest and was saddened when he suddenly passed away (as were many others at the parish that I remember). I looked at the grand jury report for the details of the allegations, and his was a relatively short summary compared to many of the other priests in the report, but they were disturbing nonetheless. The abuse did not happen when he was at my parish but rather one of the first parishes that he was assigned to during his time as a priest.

From a personal standpoint, I don’t have any strong feelings as I was never a victim or abused in any way. But it is somewhat unsettling to know that a priest that you knew personally was implicated in this, even if the allegations were never proven either way. My greater concern is for the bishops in the U.S., and the greater Church in general; will they have the fortitude to take the necessary steps to deal with this issue? I have always been of the opinion that extreme measures are needed and I doubt the willingness of the bishops to tackle these issues in a way that will restore confidence in the clergy.

I’m not quite sure how to feel about Cardinal Wuerl, who is now serving my archdiocese as the Archbishop of Washington. I’ve always had kind of ambivalent attitude towards him; he’s made some decisions that I like over the years, but he’s said and done some things in the past that I don’t agree with. Now with this grand jury report, I am leaning towards saying that he should resign, regardless of how well he handled or didn’t handle the allegations in Pittsburgh. I don’t know if he can effectively run the Archdiocese now with all that’s come to light, whether true or not. He’s probably lost the confidence of much of the faithful in the area now, whether rightly or wrongly. So while I am not going to scream for his resignation, if pressed for an opinion I would say that he should probably “take one for the team” and resign even if he himself is convinced of his innocence (and he is past retirement age anyway).

My only fear is who his replacement would be if he steps down; sex abuse scandal aside, Cardinal Wuerl might not be perfect, but we could do a lot worse in Washington as far as an archbishop goes. This is not to say that he should stay even if he is guilty of a cover-up or worse, but is just me speculating about the future if he does leave for whatever reason. I personally don’t think he will resign though, and nor do I expect him to face any pressure from Rome to do so.
 
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Years back a priest in our diocese was accused of molesting a boy. I knew the family making the accusation and the priest. I sat through the court case, heard every testimony and rejoiced when he was found not guilty (to everyone present, it was obvious he was not guilty).

The press reported the initial accusation on the front page, with bold headings. Speaking as if he was guilty.

They reported the courts decision on the 9th page with wording that suggested the court had erred.

Ever since that experience when I hear of new scandals… I doubt.

If I were to meet a victim face to face, I wouldn’t… but in the abstract, when I hear such news reports, I remember my experience and realize the media has a very real and present agenda and are not unbiased in their reporting of ‘facts’.

These latest accusations change nothing for me. I will continue to pray for the Church, the Bishops, the priests, the laity. I will continue to pray that true victims will come forward, and those looking for something else will remain silent.

It’s a difficult time, but we have had corrupt leaders mixed in from the start. Their presence changes nothing. The truth is still here. Christ is still here. The deposit of faith is still steady. All that Catholicism TEACHES is still what I believe. I will not move because of a snake.
 
redbetta said:
It has been covered up systematically everywhere.
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Exactly. And people know that. For millions of careful, conscientious fathers and mothers around the world, the lesson they have drawn from it is that, to be on the safe side, and in the best interests of their family, they will never let any of their underage children have any contact at all, ever, with any Catholic priest. Period. Better safe than sorry.

That is the real long-term damage to the Church caused by the widespread cover-ups, lasting year after year, which are still gradually leaking out. It’s not over yet.
 
anon1212376 said:
I’m going to be watching others in my parish community like a hawk.
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If you must watch others like a hawk, do so with charity, in order to avoid rash judgement and witch hunts.

Something else I would highly recommend is that you inquire directly at the parish office to find out what measures are already in place to protect children and others. Such information may put your mind at ease.

Many if not all parishes these days have well-defined policies which, if carried out with diligence, eliminate situations which could lead to sexual abuse. Such policies may, for example, prohibit a non-parental adult to be alone with a child in a bathroom, in a windowless office, or on any parish property after hours.
 
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What I meant by that comment is by everywhere in society, church included.
 
RandomAlias said:
If you must watch others like a hawk, do so with charity, in order to avoid rash judgement and witch hunts.
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Better to confront someone and it be nothing, than to let it slide and have it turn out to be abuse. A priest who served at my parish has since moved to a few different parishes before being accused of molesting a child and arrested. Additionally, in my personal life I have been repeatedly lied to and betrayed by family members, close friends, co-workers and employers.

For these reasons, I have stopped trusting people in general. I used to live in the Catholic Bubble; getting out into the world has shown me that there are no shortage of monsters out there, looking to put your head on a spike at the first opportunity.

I know that’s a grim and cynical outlook, but it’s been a major redpill for me to swallow.
 
DeusVult;
We all have a monster/sword inside of us. The trick is to acknowledge the sword and use it appropriately, keeping it sheathed. I think of Joan of Arc. This is why I don’t seek to overprotect my kids. It’s important to have them see and acknowledge what is evil. They need to have a certain amount of perspective/street smarts so they won’t get run over. Because what happens is that overprotected children do get run over, and then their sword comes out of their sheath and never gets put back in… even when they encounter people who are in their same army…
 
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Sorry to hear that. I am not unsympathetic, as my family and the parish and diocese I went to as a youth have been affected, a long time ago.

But like they say, trust may be built on verification. For starters, go to the parish office and ask what they are doing. Find someone who knows – that might be the Director of Religious Education, for example – and hear what they have to say.

In the unlikely event that they have nothing to say, then you should worry, and tell them they need to do something like the Protecting God’s Children program and policies.
 
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Made me seriously consider leaving the Church for the first time in my life.
 
I just did a quick rough count of the numbers for the 6 dioceses based on what they posted on their websites. It’s rough because some of them provided more info than others about the individual priests and cases, and also some appear to have included deacons, seminarians and priests of other orders or other dioceses who were visiting, as well as lay people like teachers or coaches who were never clergy or seminarians.

By my rough count, across the 6 dioceses:

Number of accused priests who are confirmed deceased (including those accused after they were already dead): 199

Number of accused priests who are either alive or no information available because they are in an order, left the country, status otherwise unknown: 118
(Most of these priests appear to have been either laicized or forbidden from acting as a priest. Some are listed as having been convicted and served/ serving time.)

Number of accused priests with active investigations or cases pending right now: 18
(this is from only 2 dioceses, the others didn’t give this info)

Number of accused lay people who had never been priests, seminarians or deacons, but rather were teachers, coaches, or “lay agency employees”: 19
(again this is from only 2 dioceses, the others didn’t give this info)

So yeah, most of these guys are dead.
 
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Also, as a note, in my experience the moment an accusation is made NOW, the priest is removed from service. At least, that was the case in my country when I watched this play out personally. The priest who was accused in our diocese was sent away until the court found him not guilty.
 
I don’t want to start yet another thread on this scandal, but I want to ask anyone who can answer:

Why do such sexual abuse scandals in the Church, and their related coverup, propel Catholics to leave the Church? I don’t mean those who are directly involved. I just mean the typical Catholic — the ordinary Catholic who is scandalized by the news.

Can someone explain?
 
I imagine it’s because they feel hurt, betrayed and angry with the Church?
 
But to me, it seems someone like that was largely not there for the right reasons in the first place, you know? Did that person really believe that Jesus is in the Eucharist, that apostolic succession is real, that Christ founded a Church on Peter, etc., etc.?

I am in no way minimizing the severity and horror of the scandals. But I just don’t quite get how the typical Catholic is led to leave the Church over such things.
 
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It becomes hard to believe on an emotional level that this is in fact Christ’s Church.

It becomes very hard to believe that it is spiritually important to stay in communion with these bishops.
 
I’m with you. Nothing could drive me away. At the same time… their anger and their hurt is very real. It seems they confuse the leadership in the Church with the Church… but at the same time, I can’t fault them. I’ve been defending the Church in all these threads. Coming from abuse myself I know both the pain and the hurt and the anger but I’ve also been on the side of forgiveness.

My father is a child molester. I’ve forgiven him and have contact with him to this day. While I recognize his actions were evil, he is still my father and I still love him.

So I realize my take on things is very different from the average Joe.

The Church has not changed its teachings. The Church will prevail against the gates of hell. The Church will still be here when they come back.
 
I agree it makes sense to say that one is emotionally driven. Or even if not that, if the scandal is so overwhelming that one loses one’s previous commitment to, say, Jesus in the Eucharist. In other words: “To hell with it, none of it’s true!”

But for many people I see on Facebook comments and so forth, the train of thought doesn’t seem to be on that level.
 
I speak because I hope my perspective might help a person or two find their way.

I’ve been in that hurt and I much prefer this side of forgiveness.

I think we will see a lot of people leave over this and it will be because of their anger and the feeling of betrayal and etc… but I also have full faith they’ll come back, when they’re ready and when they’ve found some healing.
 
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