August 01, 2005

Enough is enough: Catholic Church needs to heal itself

DENVER (CO)
Denver Post

By Jim Spencer
Denver Post Columnist

Scandalous. That's what a former superior of the Rev. Harold Robert White called Eric Gorski's reports.

Last week, Gorski, The Denver Post's religion writer, revealed alleged sexual assaults by White on a series of young parishioners roughly 40 years ago.

Gorski also detailed what appear to be failures of Denver's Roman Catholic Archdiocese to properly react when told of White's supposed abuse.

Several alleged victims say they complained to church authorities, but church officials let White continue to minister.

Scandalous. No question about it. It makes members of the church hierarchy accomplices after the fact to felonies.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the scandal the Rev. James E. Kane saw when he talked to Gorski last week.

"I am a good friend of Father White's," Kane told Gorski. "And I personally like Father White, and I personally think this publicity is scandalous because I feel if a person has an illness, whatever it should be, what we should do for these people is pray for them and not criticize them."

Posted by kshaw at August 1, 2005 07:01 AM