PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By David O'Reilly
Inquirer Staff Writer
Parish priests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will distribute a letter at Mass this weekend from Cardinal Justin Rigali condemning clergy sex abuse but defending the ways in which his predecessors handled abuse cases.
Rigali's letter comes in response to a blistering, 418-page grand jury report on sex abuse in the archdiocese that Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham released Wednesday.
The cardinal calls the report "painful to read" and asks for prayers for the hundreds of victims of abuse and dozens of priests who abused them.
"Once again, I acknowledge the considerable suffering experienced by victims of abuse and offer my sincere apologies," he writes.
But he goes on to say the report is "unjustifiably critical" of the two previous archbishops, Cardinals Anthony J. Bevilacqua and John Krol, whom the report accuses of concealing abusers and endangering children.