By Chip Mitchell
Chicago Public Radio
April 22, 2010
http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=41500
A top Chicago-area Catholic is trying to clarify some remarks about sexual abuse by priests. We report from our West Side bureau.
Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki oversees parishes on Chicago's West Side and nearby suburbs. The church this week announced he would become the bishop of a diocese based in Springfield.
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| Paprocki says large damage awards leave the church with fewer resources for charity. |
Some advocates for sexually abused children are criticizing the promotion. They're pointing to a 2007 homily in which Paprocki blamed the devil for a tide of lawsuits facing the church.
Paprocki points out he was preaching to a gathering of lawyers, not victims. Large damage awards, he says, leave the church with fewer resources for charity.
PAPROCKI: That's an evil thing. And that's what I was trying to say in my homily.
MITCHELL: OK, but where does the evil come from? Does it come from the abuse or from the lawsuits?
PAPROCKI: I'm talking about the whole scenario. So I wouldn't single out any one of those things.
In Springfield, Paprocki will oversee 131 parishes. His installation is June 22.
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