PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
Cardinal Justin Rigali is right about one thing.
The Philadelphia grand jury report accusing Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia leaders of shielding sexually abusive priests for decades - until as recently as several years ago - isn't G-rated reading.
The grand jury findings issued at mid-week by District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham do contain "explanations of the abuse" that are "very graphic," as the Philadelphia archbishop put it.
What else could be expected, though, from a harrowing account of 63 clergymen who preyed on hundreds of children?
Their crimes included rape and other vile forms of sexual abuse of children. Compounding the evil, their victims were denied justice in most cases, the grand jury found; assaults were overlooked or covered up by church officials whose first priority was avoiding scandal.
The grand jury report is no bedtime story, for sure.
But it's not really the place of the person who now leads the institution that tolerated these evils to offer an opinion on the merits of reading the grand jury report.
"I don't think it is of value to families," the spiritual leader of 1.3 million area Roman Catholics said in an interview Thursday.
A respectful dissent: Nothing could be of greater value to parents than knowledge that alerts them to dangers their children could face.