DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
August 14, 2018
By Ann Zaniewski
Archbishop of Detroit Allen H. Vigneron on Monday stressed that all clergy — including bishops like himself — need to be held accountable for their behavior, and said priests who have impure relations with others need to repent or give up the priesthood.
His remarks came in two similar letters — one geared toward clergy, the other to the faithful at large — issued ahead of the expected release of a report detailing widespread sexual abuse allegations against clergy in Pennsylvania.
Vigneron told the faithful he shares their pain in facing the news of abuse allegations in the Church. He also said he prays for the victims.
“Even with our renewed prayers and support for our dedicated priests and deacons, I note a temptation to despair among some over whether things can change,” he wrote. “However, we know that reform can only happen when hope lives.”We must move forward with the conviction that God will not abandon his Church. He wants her purified, cleansed of these sins and brought to new life.”
A damning report into allegations of decades of child sexual abuse by clergy members and efforts to cover it up in six of Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses is expected to be released in the coming days, the result of an almost two-year grand jury investigation.
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