A Disturbing Tale of Sexual Abuse and Complicity by Church

The Sun-Gazette
September 1, 2018

http://www.sungazette.com/opinion/editorials/2018/09/a-disturbing-tale-of-sexual-abuse-and-complicity-by-church/

Many of the Roman Catholic priests accused by a Pennsylvania grand jury of molesting hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children since the 1940s cannot be brought to justice. Some are dead. For most of those still alive, statutes of limitations have passed. They cannot be prosecuted.

Allegations of sexual abuse by the priests are disturbing enough. But the grand jury’s other conclusion, that some church officials covered up for the predator priests, is worse.

Surely, if the evidence is solid, some means can be found of holding those officials accountable.

Even worse than the complicity of some church officials are the grand jury’s findings that some police and prosecutors knew of sex abuse allegations — but did not investigate them, out of “deference” to the church.

Those law enforcement officers and officials should be punished, too.

No doubt the very scope of the grand jury report will cause some to doubt its accuracy. But if even a fraction is true, some means of getting justice simply must be found.