OREGON
Statesman-Journal
Editorial
We’ve come a long way in confronting sex abuse of children.
The Statesman Journal’s Emily Gillespie told that story in Saturday’s newspaper, recounting how a 12-year-old Salem boy followed his mother’s lessons on “what’s right, what’s wrong and to tell her if anything happened.” According to authorities, the boy ran when a Woodburn priest tried to victimize him.
The Roman Catholic priest, Angel Perez, has been charged with sex abuse, using a child in display of sexually explicit conduct, driving under the influence, furnishing alcohol to a minor, and tampering with evidence. Perez is accused of providing alcohol to the boy on several occasions, which is typical of grooming behavior designed to gain trust and access to a potential victim.
The boy, the strangers who came to his aid, his family and the authorities all acted with immediacy. That’s as it should be.
For too many generations, the Catholic Church turned a blind eye toward sexual abuse of boys and young men. But that church was not alone. Other churches, other organizations and other families found it preferable to deny the potential abuse than to confront it. Many adults are alive today who were molested or otherwise abused in their childhood and found no one to turn to.
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