PENNSYLVANIA
The Daily Times
By TIMOTHY LOGUE, tlogue@delcotimes.com 09/29/2005
Cardinal Justin Rigali probably got what he expected when he invited priests to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary Tuesday to pray and sound off about the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked his archdiocese. "I was hoping for an honest exchange, and that definitely happened," said the Rev. J. Thomas Heron of St. Gabriel Church in Norwood. "To use Abraham Lincoln’s phrase, there was evidence of a house divided."
After prayer and remarks by the cardinal, those in attendance were invited to ask questions and offer opinions about a grand jury’s findings of sexual abuse by 63 priests and Rigali’s response to them.
"It wasn’t a debate, but I would say both sides were heard to some degree of satisfaction," said the Rev. Joseph J. Meehan of St. Eugene Church in the Primos section of Upper Darby. "To his credit, the cardinal set himself up to receive criticism, and he accepted it."
Of the 300-plus priests who attended the meeting, about a dozen stepped up to a podium set up in the middle of seminary pews to speak their piece. A few had less-than-flattering words for Rigali, who has criticized the grand jury findings while maintaining the archdiocese never made concerted efforts to cover up the abuse of hundreds of children by dozens of priests.