By Boua Xiong
Northland's News Center
April 23, 2010
http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/91914614.html
[with video]
Father William Graham runs the Catholic Studies program at the college of Saint Scholastica.
It's been hard for Graham to hear about the sex abuse cases involving the Catholic Church.
"We want to for sure keep in mind what Pope Benedict is calling us to right now: a season of repentance and of penance because when anyone has been hurt, the whole church mourns," he said.
While the church is calling out for repentance, survivors of clergy abuse are calling for answers.
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"I want them to admit that they were wrong and that there was a cover up," Tim Caroline, a survivor of clergy sex abuse said.
Nearly 40 years ago Caroline was molested by a clergyman. He said over time he has been able to separate what happened to him from the church but admits it hasn't been easy.
"Right now it's been very difficult because the way the Catholic Church has handled this has not been impressive," Caroline said.
"That secrecy did nobody any favors. I think that we've made a lot of progress since then," Graham said.
That progress includes a charter for the protection of children and young people issued back in 2002 during the US conference of Catholic Bishops.
The charter includes a zero tolerance policy for abusers. Which is one of the things survivors like Caroline have been asking for. While church policy is slowly changing regarding abuse cases, some survivors said the situation has taken a severe toll on their faith.
"My faith has been tested and at this point in time, I want to believe yet I have a lot of confusion," Caroline said.
Caroline has switched to the Lutheran church but has had a difficult time attending recently.
Graham said the church's response or lack of response to abuse cases may have caused it to lose some followers, but he still believes the Catholic Church remains relevant.
"I don't think it has ruined the church because the church has too many good people doing too much good work and is a very important
source of good work," he said.
Caroline said he also recognizes the good work of the church but feels he still needs more time to cope with his loss of innocence at the hands of clergy.
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