PORTLAND (ME)
Portland Press Herald
August 23, 2018
By Bill Nemitz
The report of widespread abuse by priests in several Pennsylvania dioceses widens the gap between the Church that is and the one Catholics thought they knew.
I recently attended the Roman Catholic funeral for a woman who lived for just over 90 years. The congregation numbered more than 100 – testament to a large, loving family and a circle of loyal friends who’d stayed tethered to her throughout her twilight years.
Heading into a catered lunch after the service, someone commented on the priest’s kind words and asked one of the deceased woman’s sons if she and the priest had been close.
“No,” he replied with a quick shake of the head. “They didn’t really know each other.”
Not even through her attendance at Sunday Mass?
“She hasn’t gone for more than 10 years,” he said. “Not since …”
The church scandal?
“Right.”
It’s been almost 20 years since widespread reports of child abuse by priests surfaced first in Boston and then spread, like a wildfire, across the United States and the rest of the world.
To some, it’s old news – the anguished stories told by victims, many now in their 50s, 60s or older; the stonewalling by bishops who profess sorrow even while they refuse to release offending priests’ names and current locations; the countless sins that somehow never found their way onto criminal dockets.
But it’s not old news. It’s still with us.
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