Why, oh why, does the Catholic Church continue to bestow honors and awards on tragically flawed wrong-doers? Disgraced Former Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali Trial watchers in Philadelphia have been treated to a firsthand view of vile and disgusting human behavior. What makes it worse is that the evildoers are priests and the victims are children. The…Continue reading Honoring the tragically flawed is tragically flawed
Serve on a Diocese lay review board, and you can go to jail. Or at least that’s what Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn says. Bishop Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are each being charged with one misdemeanor of failure to report suspected child abuse. The charges stem from the case of…Continue reading Another Lay Review Board Thrown Under The Bus …
Sometimes, the most profound statements at a press conference come from the reporters, not us. Today, my friend and colleague Ken Smolka and I were in front of Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello, California. We were there because the Irish Chrisitian Brothers, the religious order that ran Cantwell High School,…Continue reading Clarity at Cantwell High School
Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation (Luke 6:24–26) The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, one of the main organizations for whom I volunteer my advocacy efforts (and to whom I donate), has recently been under siege in Missouri. Catholic bishops there (under the direction of…Continue reading Putting the “Bully” in the religious Bully Pulpit
If you care about clergy sex abuse victims, you should read this. If you think that the Catholic Church is doing everything right in the scandal, you must read this. And then you must read it again. Thousands of pages of child sex abuse and cover-up documents are now public in the Wilmington Delaware Diocese…Continue reading Consider this your homework
Joe Paterno’s death last weekend came as a bit of a shock and a huge disappointment. I knew he was sick, but my disappointment did not come from grief. My upset was quite different: The man at the center of the biggest child sex abuse scandal of 2011 is gone, and we will never know…Continue reading Ignore the Man Behind the Curtain: Joe Paterno and the Catholic Sex Abuse Crisis