INDIANA
Fort Wayne News-Sentinel
A column by Kevin Leininger
The Vatican made worldwide news last week with its announcement of a policy designed to fight sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church. So why does a woman allegedly abused by a local priest more than 50 years ago insist the church didn’t go nearly far enough?
“Are they so hard-up for priests they had to do this? It’s the biggest joke going,” said Michele Bennett, 62, who claims to have been molested by the late Father William Ehrman in the rectory of New Haven’s St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. Bishop John D’Arcy, of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, called Bennett’s story “credible” after I first reported her claims in 2002.
But if Bennett believes the Vatican is right to deny ordination to gays to protect boys and young men – and she does – she also believes the policy is insufficient, for a variety of reasons.
There is, of course, the obvious: The alleged crime against Bennett was heterosexual in nature. But Bennett – now a teacher in Battle Creek, Mich. – fears the no-gays policy won’t adequately protect boys, either.