ALBANY (NY)
WAMC
March 3, 2020
By Jackie Orchard
It is a troubled time for the Catholic church and its flock. Roughly 80 priests in the Albany Diocese have been accused of sexual abuse and roughly 70 priests have been accused in Buffalo. Amid that troubling backdrop, Siena College hosted a “Let’s Rebuild Our Church” panel Saturday.
The panel included a priest, a professor of theology, and a survivor of sexual abuse who gathered to answer questions about how abuse in the church occurs and what is being done to stop it.
Father Tom Konopka of the Albany Diocesan Counseling Center is a social worker. He says when he entered the seminary in 1984 there were psychological tests, IQ tests, and several interviews. He says the process is even more thorough today, as New York state’s Child Victims Act helps focus attention on decades of alleged abuse within the church.
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