Parishioners react to Chaput's Mass for Healing apology

By Amy Buckman
WPVI
March 23, 2014

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=9476916

LOGAN SQUARE - March 23, 2014 (WPVI) -- During the Mass for Healing for Victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse on Saturday, Archbishop Charles Chaput said he couldn't explain why some church leaders covered up for clergy accused of sexually abusing children, but he did say their failure to act may have led to there being additional victims.

"We need to repent for that and ask the forgiveness of those who suffered sexual abuse because of that lack of attention," Chaput said.

Many parishioners attending Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul Sunday were unaware of the Archbishop's apology yesterday. But once they heard about it, those who agreed to comment said they thought it was a good idea.

"I think it was a good thing because everybody knows it and I think it's good to apologize and go on from there and ask for forgiveness and just keep on going," Paul Devine of Roxborough said.

"I think it's wonderful. God bless him. God bless all those who are affected and it's great that he did that," Donna Bongiovanni of Potomac Falls, Va. said.

The reaction from the local chapter of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was less favorable.

In a statement, they said, "Yesterday's Healing Mass was a public relations Band-Aid, a symbolic gesture and not a viable move to protect the vulnerable or to educate the parishioners on the active, credibly accused priests."

Despite the public apology, the Archbishop continues to oppose measures that would extend the statute of limitations and allow victims more time to come forward and press charges or file civil suits in abuse cases.