They Are Not outside the Law, The Ottawa Citizen, April 7, 2010

"They Are Not outside the Law"

The Ottawa Citizen
April 7, 2010

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/They+outside/2759925/story.html

"There is a big difference between my faith and my faith community," says 63-year-old Alice McClymont, a life-long Catholic.
Photo by Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — 'There is a big difference between my faith and my faith community," says 63-year-old Alice McClymont, a life-long Catholic. "If you have a strong faith, nothing should really shatter it, certainly nothing human."

Having said that, she believes the church is not handling the scandals very well. She was particularly dismayed to read of Rev. Lawrence Murphy, who abused as many as 200 boys at a school for the deaf in Wisconsin. Because he used the confessional to fondle boys, a canon law case was brought against him. But in 1996 he wrote to Rome: "I simply want to

live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my priesthood."

The proceedings were stopped, and he died in 1998, never having been convicted or defrocked. He was buried in his vestments.

McClymont was appalled. "I was kind of horrified to think that a priest could think that he could die with dignity in his 70s after having done those kinds of things.

"They are not outside the law any more than we are. I think they are making too light of it. The whole situation is so dreadful for the victims. It makes you wonder, 'Do they realize the extent of the damage to people, and what it really means?' "

"They really need to be more open about the whole situation. The worst thing would be to cover anything up.

"That would really shatter people's belief in how things are handled, not necessarily their faith, but in the religion's bureaucracy."

McClymont doesn't find it affects her church life at St. Basil's, where she sings in the choir. "We actually don't talk about it much."