WILLINGBORO TOWNSHIP (NJ)
Burlington County Times
February 17, 2019
Sometimes sorrow and regret aren’t enough.
Those were the words that Cardinal Joseph Tobin, of the Archdiocese of Newark, used in trying to lessen the pain and anguish of all those victimized children “who put their trust in a member of the church, only to have that trust so profoundly betrayed.”
Tobin added, “We must protect our children, first, foremost, and always.” One would think that came with the job descriptions of priest, clergyman and deacon. But these sad excuses for role models give not only religion a bad name, but also humanity.
Apologies don’t count for much anymore, and they sure don’t mean a lot in this scandal, but what does count is the continuing exposure of the lies and immoral cover-up of the Catholic Church, and of the names of the nearly 200 men in New Jersey who disgraced themselves and their faith with such repugnant behavior.
Newspapers and other media published stories on Thursday after various archdioceses in the state revealed the names of Roman Catholic clergy members — a few served at Burlington County churches — who they say have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors, as long ago as 1940.
That’s nearly 80 years — as a point of context, a year before we entered World War II. We have to ask: Just how far back does this worldwide systemic problem go, and how long did the church hierarchy know it and look the other way? We shudder to think.
Dioceses in more than two dozen states have released the names of abusive clergy members. In August, a Pennsylvania grand jury report identified over 300 predator priests, some of them now dead. The overall number in our country alone very likely is in the thousands.
It’s equally unsettling to think that some of the victims are now parents and grandparents. They have had to live their adulthoods with this undeserved black mark.
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