BishopAccountability.org
	Pope's Visit Sparks Debate on Sex Abuse KAKE April 18, 2008 http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/17930379.html [with video] Pope Benedict's first visit to America is focusing new attention on church sex abuse cases. Several local families all too familiar with the toll it can take are speaking out about the issue. The Pope took time this Thursday to talk and pray with a small group of clergy sex abuse victims. It made many of them feel hopeful, but the Pope's meeting doesn't go far enough to heal the pain of local abuse victim's, they say. "He sat with five people and heard their stories," says Janet Patterson. "The 5,000 or 50,000 he should have sat with are the many families who have been fractured because of this." Patterson's son Eric was abused by Father Robert Larson when he was 12 years old. He finally told his family the secret 16 years later. At age 29, he committed suicide. Patterson wants to make sure what happened to her is not only never forgotten but never allowed to happen again. So does abuse victim Peggy Warren, who says, "It is everywhere I turn and what is so sad is so many victims are still living in silence and still living in a cycle of shame and guilt." Warren says the Pope's visit is a step in the right direction, but not anything close to what the church should be doing. She wants action. "Those bishops should not only be removed from their positions, but charges should be filed and they should be held accountable," says Warren.
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