MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News
Jerome Christenson Daily News
It’s a syllogism that continues to haunt the Roman Catholic Church:
Some people sexually molest children.
Some people are Roman Catholic priests and religious.
Therefore, some Roman Catholic priests and religious sexually molest children.
For centuries, this was a reality spoken of in diocesan chanceries in hushed tones behind closed doors, spoken of in whispers at priestly retreats, and that haunted the dreams and blighted the lives of victims until it burst into public view and public consciousness.
What had been the deepest, darkest of secrets is now the subject of an Academy Award-winning film, the basis of legal actions that have driven diocese after diocese into bankruptcy and cast a dark shadow over all the Church does and says.
“Out of darkness has come a great light” resonates through the Christian tradition, and may well speak to the most lasting impact of the revelations of clerical abuse. With the October 2014 settlement of a suit brought against the Diocese of Winona and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Diocese of Winona committed itself to a specific set of protocols to defend children against abuse in the future and make amends to those who suffered abuse in the past.
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