PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive
Standing inside Our Mother of Sorrows’ stained glass doors before Sunday mass, Rick Messina had no trouble finding words to describe his reaction to new details released last week regarding decades of years-old child abuse by local Roman Catholic clergy.
The parishioner called it a striking reminder that “horrible and disgusting” things happened for far too long in churches like his. As hard as it was to hear, it was also a necessary reminder, he said.
“It’s sad that things that happened so many years ago are taking away from the beautiful things that are happening in this church,” Messina said. “But it’s happening right now because it needs to. This has to be out in the open so we can learn from it and people can heal.”
He was among parishioners Sunday who said the both decades-long and decades-old scandal has hung over the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown and its parishes for too long – but has done so because it was hushed rather than healed.
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