VERMONT
Burlington Free Press
Published: Saturday, May 20, 2006
Bishop Salvatore Matano acts as though the Catholic Church were the victim in a string of sexual assaults of altar boys by at least one priest in the 1970s.
The bishop moved this week to shield the church's property from lawsuits stemming from the alleged abuse, moved to have the judge thrown off the cases for alleged bias, and argued the church was under "unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault" by lawyers for the now-grown altar boys.
All this legal outrage was designed to protect the church's assets and discredit those standing up for the alleged victims.
But the church has never been the victim in any of these cases. It is the children, now adults struggling with the alleged abuse in their youth, who deserve the bishop's compassion. His outrage should be focused on the crimes of the past. His efforts should focus on doing right by the true victims.