By Jessica Fargen
Boston Herald
April 20, 2008
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/general/view.bg?articleid=1088330
NEW YORK CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI will always have his detractors, but even his toughest critics will admit that this past week the aging pontiff brought the need to heal the clergy sex abuse crisis high up onto his papal platform.
Whether one believes that reform is coming or that Benedicts speeches are merely words on a page, the pontiff has confronted the thorny issue in ways that defied expectations.
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Bishops from across the country arrive at St. Patricks Cathedral Saturday morning to attend a Mass with Pope Benedict XVI. Photo by Lisa Hornak |
Before the Holy Father set foot on American soil, he told reporters aboard the papal airplane that pedophile priests left him "deeply ashamed." During his homily at St. Patricks Cathedral yesterday, he lamented the "damage" and "suffering" caused.
"I join you in praying this will be a time of purification," he told bishops from across the country.
And Benedicts meeting Thursday in Washington, D.C., with Bernie McDaid, Olan Horne and Faith Johnston and two others - Massachusetts adults whose childhoods were stolen by pedophile priests - stunned even close papal observers and proved to be healing for those three victims, long hardened by the churchs betrayal.
Benedicts speeches in New York have touched on universal themes of healing and hope - two things the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests says are still lacking among clergy abuse victims. SNAP has pressured Benedict at every turn and for good reason. American bishops who knowingly shuffled molester priests from parish to parish are still serving the papacy.
Many victims like Betty McCabe, a Canton, Conn., woman who waited until her 50s before she faced what happened to her as an 11-year-old, lost their childhoods forever.
"Its been absolutely devastating," McCabe said as she stood on a sidewalk Friday holding a photo of "Danny," a priest abuse victim.
Shes holding judgment on Benedicts clergy abuse outreach for now, she said.
"Its a good first step, but I want to see it put into action," she said.
Action, this pope has taken.
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