ERIE (PA)
GoErie
August 24, 2018
Editorial Board
Worn levers and a tired script were within easy reach of Catholic Diocese of Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico when protesters showed up Tuesday at the seat of Catholic power in Erie.
He could have retreated behind the walls of St. Mark Catholic Center and held the protesters at legalistic bay on a distant public sidewalk.
Persico exercised a greater power instead. He stepped into the chancery parking lot and invited the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests to hold their demonstration on church property.
“Down there, what good is it?” he asked, referring to the sidewalk, as detailed by reporter Ed Palattella.
The church deserves every ounce of opprobrium heaped upon it right now. Charged with a divine saving mission, it put the interests of the institution and the men who control it above the protection of children, whom some priests defiled.
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