UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Nicole Sotelo | Jun. 23, 2016
During my youth, I passed through the heavy doors of St. Theresa Parish hundreds of times after Mass. While most of those memories have vanished into an amalgam of childhood impressions, I do recall a specific encounter one Sunday with Fr. George Bredemann. My mother chatted with him as we three children stood near. I recall him looking down at us and me feeling uncomfortable. Mostly, I remember his eyes.
It was only years later that I learned he was one of the most notorious of the priests who abused children in my home diocese of Phoenix, Arizona. Fr. George was eventually arrested, convicted, and jailed. Justice did not arrive because our bishop, Thomas O’Brien, stood with the survivors; in fact, he wrote a letter to the court asking for leniency in Fr. George’s sentencing. Justice was served because a Catholic parishioner saw what was happening and took action.
Currently, little is being done to hold bishops accountable when it comes to their negligence in handling abuse cases. So it should be no surprise that U.S. Catholics across generations gave Pope Francis only a 54 percent approval rating of “excellent” or “good” when asked how they would evaluate his performance in addressing the sex abuse crisis.
While Catholics gave Pope Francis better marks than his predecessor, he still falls short when you compare his 54 percent approval rating on sex abuse with his 81 percent rating at “spreading Catholic faith.”
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