MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6
August 13, 2013, by Mike Lowe
MILWAUKEE (WITI) — Father James Connell, a Catholic priest, is calling out the church hierarchy on its handling of the child sex abuse scandal. This, after the Milwaukee Archdiocese in July released thousands of pages of documents detailing sex abuse cases — some dating back decades.
In 2010, Father Connell rose to national prominence after publishing an open letter to Catholics that was sharply critical of the churc
h’s audit procedures, its standard for removing accused priests and cannon law.
Father Connell appeared at the Milwaukee Press Club to talk about his efforts, and FOX6′s Mike Lowe asked him about the central question raised in that letter.
Mike Lowe: “You said, ‘why is it so difficult for the leaders of the Catholic Church to do the right thing?’
What’s the answer?”
“Some would say part of it is, the leaders are hanging on to keeping this, we’re in charge, we’re the powers, top down, nobody’s going to tell us. Another school of thought is maybe there are other moral issues buried that we don’t want people to know about — and if we start talking about other things, maybe other things will open up?” Father Connell said.
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