The Other Side of the Catholic Clergy Abuse Scandal

Whispers in the Loggia has a ton of great posts up today.

He touches on a something that the Holy Father said to the USA Bishops that I have wondered about. Whispers in his post "I Am Vindicated" has in part:

Lest it was still a secret in any quarter, its cover was blown -- in a big way -- when the Pope told the US bishops that in the years since 2002, their priests have been "experiencing a closeness to Christ in his Passion as they struggle to come to terms with the consequences of the [sex-abuse] crisis."On hearing that, some among the "long black line" just sat there and wept.

From the highest "On High" there is, the father's love and affirmation not a few had longed to find from their own bishops, some of whom had long left their hopes in vain, had finally come.Suffice it to say, it was just one of many needed statements from the Main Event -- to be sure, not for the vast majority of the bench, but the critical mass whose response in recent years has seen a good number of the rank-and-file become, in effect, the hidden victims of the scandals.It's been an underreported backstory of the post-'02 period, but B16's comments -- including his pointed exhortation that, moving forward, "a vital part of [each bishop's] task is to strengthen relationships with [his] clergy" -- indicated with a jolting clarity the Holy See's great awareness and concern that, on a broad swath of the national level, the bonds between bishops and their presbyterates have become significantly strained, if not gravely damaged.

As one veteran of a Northeastern archdiocese put it, even though the overwhelming majority of the guys were as genuinely shocked, revolted and grief-stricken as the layfolk by the revelations that turned the project upside-down, "We've been left to hang to dry."It's an experience that's been echoed far too many times... one felt even more widely in the quiet of many souls.

Good read. Be sure to see it all including a story of a Priest that was just a couple of years from retirement that got accused of Sexual abuse and has now been vindicated.

The laity I feel has failed to these priests too. Someone should be asking about basic fairness. Every priest is one phone call away from his life turned upside down. There are many that live in fear of baseless accusations.

As someone that has worked with sexual abuse "experts" I understand their concern. How many fathers have I seen had their life go through holy hell because some expert hired by the overbearing child protective services drops accusations of sexual abuse at drop of a hat. How many vengeful and hurt spouses in divorce and child custody proceedings did I see make baseless accusations? It was lot and often gave me pause. Does any one remember the huge Daycare Case in the 80's where all the kids said they were abused by the family running it and years later we find out it was all FALSE!!

These are all things to remembers as we talk about getting rid of statue of limitations to investigate cases. The question you should and I should be asking is are we prepared to put us under that same legal standard? I expect not.

Anyway a good piece.