Owensboro Diocese Holding Listening Sessions on Clergy Sex Abuse

By Lisa Autry
WEKU
October 22, 2018

http://www.weku.fm/post/owensboro-diocese-holding-listening-sessions-clergy-sex-abuse

The Diocese of Owensboro wants to have a conversation with the public about sexual misconduct in the Catholic Church. The diocese will hold a listening session in Owensboro on Wednesday and another in Hopkinsville a week from today.

Bishop William Medley says he understands how a report released recently from a Pennsylvania grand jury that detailed decades of sexual abuse and cover-ups has stirred up some painful memories. In an interview with WKU Public Radio last month, Medley said the Owensboro Diocese is offering counseling to sex abuse victims and encourages others to step forward with their claims.

Medley told WKU "If someone associated with the church has been the one who inflicted harm, it falls to the church to be a responsible agent and try to heal that."

Wednesday’s listening session in Owensboro will take place at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish starting at 6:30pm. The Owensboro Diocese, which serves 78 parishes and 18 Catholic schools in western Kentucky recently said there have been 66 abuse allegations against employees in its parish since its founding in 1937.