The already roiled landscape of the Catholic Church’s institutional response to clergy sexual abuse through the years ratcheted up again late Aug. 25 when, in a scathing 11-page written statement, the Vatican’s former ambassador to the United States accuses Pope Francis of
These are dark days, indeed. The fallout from decades of widespread clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups continues, and many Catholics find themselves confused and unsure of who or what to believe. Reports and statements are being issued at rapid fire, and battle lines are
The absolute worst ramification of the clergy abuse crisis is the damage done to the victims. These young people and adults’ lives have been scarred and ruined forever. They are desperately in need of reconciliation and healing. They are broken, and the
One recent Sunday morning — after spending way too long reading and talking and thinking about Archbishop Viganò’s memo calling for the pope to resign — I was craving silence above all. So, of course, I managed to get myself into an
As the “summer of suffering in the Church” continues to unfold, so too does the shocking reality that more Catholics, not just select bishops, are in denial. Some members of the laity want to pretend the crisis is an invention of the
A friend in Erie texted Kevin-John Jobczynski when Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro released the grand jury report on sexual abuse in six dioceses in the state. Jobczynski, a professional artist in Florida, didn’t immediately read it online, but when he did,
In the wake of the devastating Aug. 14 grand jury report, documenting over seven decades of clergy sexual abuse and cover-up in six Pennsylvania dioceses over a span of seven decades, one of the bishops named in the report, Bishop Kevin C.
It may seem crazy to speak of bright spots in the current crisis facing the Catholic Church. The scandal surrounding Archbishop Theodore McCarrick and the recent grand jury report documenting seven decades of clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups across six dioceses in
I know it. I feel it. The Holy Spirit heard my prayer. Already heartsick after reading the Grand Jury’s report from Pennsylvania on the horrific record of sexual abuse of youth by clergy, within an hour I received telephone calls from two
It’s hard to believe it has come to this. Father Basil Hutsko of St. Michael Byzantine Catholic Church in Merrillville, Indiana, was attacked and knocked unconscious in the sacristy after celebrating Divine Liturgy at the end of August. According to a letter