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	Local Catholics Weigh in on Abuse Scandals By Diane Turbyfill Gaston Gazette April 18, 2010 The Catholic Church has come under fire internationally for alleged sex crimes committed by pedophilic priests against young parishioners. But the despicable actions of a few should not cast a clou The Catholic Church has come under fire internationally for alleged sex crimes committed by pedophilic priests against young parishioners. But the despicable actions of a few should not cast a cloud over the priesthood in the Catholic Church, says Abbot Placid Solari, the chancellor at Belmont Abbey College. "This has been hurtful to those faithful priests whose reputation has been damaged through no fault of their own by the behavior of 3 or 4 percent," said Solari. Belmont City Councilman Charlie Martin said the abuse is a hard pill to swallow but agrees with Solari that the instances don't mean an entire faith is corrupt. A member of Queen of the Apostles in Belmont, Martin attends services at the Abbey. The abuse that a few priests inflicted on victims have not shaken Martin's faith nor does he feel it should tarnish the reputation of Catholics or Catholicism. "We're all humans. No matter what faith you're in, if you've done wrong you've got to pay the price but it has nothing to do with the doctrine of the church," he said. A time to repent Two cases of sex crimes involving American priests have been detailed in newspapers across the country. The Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy is accused of molesting at least 200 boys at a school for the deaf [WHERE AT?]. Murphy went through analysis and was relocated within the church network but never left the church until his death. Documents published in the news [WHAT NEWSPAPER?] allege that high ranking officials were made aware of the abuse and failed to defrock Murphy or report the abuse to law enforcement authorities. In a separate case, the Catholic Diocese of Memphis settled a priest sexual-abuse lawsuit for $2 million, but now, a year later, the case is revealing a much broader and more detailed picture of abuse and secrecy in the diocese. Many headlines and accusations point at the network within the Catholic hierarchy with a pattern of secrecy and a lack of appropriate action. Pope Benedict XVI scarcely broached the topic until an off-the-cuff homily this week, according to The Associated Press. "I must say, we Christians, even in recent times, have often avoided the word 'repent,' which seemed too tough. But now under attack from the world, which has been telling us about our sins ... we realize that it's necessary to repent, in other words, recognize what is wrong in our lives," Benedict said. The need for transparency Cover-ups of hundreds of clergy child-abuse cases have come to light recently in Ireland, Brazil and Germany, with some of the criticism being lodged against the Pope himself for not removing pedophile priests when he was an archbishop in Germany in the early 1980s. "I'm not sure how much he knew or when he knew it, but it's a situation that needs to be addressed and I think he's doing that," said Martin. "It's one of those things that are unpleasant but I have faith in the system." 'No secrets' in local closets The topic of sexual abuse within the church has no pattern of secrecy locally, said David Hains, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte. As the director of communications for the diocese that includes 46 counties in North Carolina, Hains said he openly answers questions from reporters. "Sometimes I wish they would tell me how I can be more transparent," he said. "It's a little bit frustrating." The choice of whether to address the subject from the pulpit has been left up to each individual priest, Hains said. Hains said at least one minister in the area has addressed the topic in a recent homily, but he hasn't asked each specific parish. "A pastor would have to know his own congregation and know what is appropriate," said Solari. "He would have to make that judgment." Steps taken to correct failures Negative media coverage can have a positive affect on the church, Haines said. Horrific stories of abuse brought to light an issue that needed to be addressed. The Catholic Church has taken that information and developed programs for young people and put into place guidelines to bring justice to victims, said Haines. But even before the recent controversy, a policy was in place addressing involvement of law enforcement when sex crimes occur. "Our policy specifically says that an individual who feels that they have a sexual abuse claim is welcome to go to the authorities. And if a sexual abuse claim is made to us, we're going to go to the authorities," said Haines. Programs are in place to ensure the safety of parishioners, and priests are put through a screening and training process. Those are important to note when fully covering the topic, said Solari. "There's no question that the issue was not handled as it should have been and that people were hurt and that was wrong," Solari adds. "But fair reporting of it should say that these are the steps being taken to correct it." Repeated calls to [THE PASTORS OF] St. Mary Catholic Church in Gastonia and Queen of the Apostles in Belmont were not returned. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Pope Benedict favorable rating drops to 40 percent in U.S. A new low of 40 percent of Americans view Pope Benedict XVI favorably amid new criticism about the Roman Catholic Church's handling of child sex abuse by priests. Now, nearly as many Americans have an unfavorable view of the pope as have a favorable view. The current results represent a major shift from two years ago, when the pope's favorable rating jumped to 63 percent as he was concluding a well-received visit to the United States that included personal meetings between the pope and victims of sex abuse by U.S. priests. The latest allegations of lax handling of abusive priests mostly concern past abuse cases in Europe, but they implicate the pope, who had a central role in the Catholic Church's handling of sex abuse cases prior to his becoming pope. Pope Benedict's image has deteriorated about equally among Catholics and non-Catholics from its 2008 high — by 20 and 23 points, respectively. Catholics continue to view him much more favorably than non-Catholics. Pope Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, also saw his U.S. favorable ratings drop in 2002 as the Catholic Church responded to similar criticism for its handling of priest sex abuse allegations, mostly from the United States — but only as low as 61 percent favorable and 26 percent unfavorable (compared to the current pope's 40 percent favorable and 35 percent unfavorable). As the scandal faded, Pope John Paul II's ratings improved, and Gallup's final measurement on him showed a 78 percent favorable and 11 percent unfavorable rating. In general, Americans viewed Pope John Paul II more favorably than they view Pope Benedict XVI. That is partly because Pope John Paul II was a more familiar figure to Americans, with an average of 14 percent not having an opinion of him, compared with an average of 30 percent not having an opinion of Pope Benedict XVI. Results are based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,033 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted March 26-28, 2010.
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