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  Seminarians Deal with Scandal's Fallout

Catholic Culture
September 28, 2010

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=7735

Discussing the effects of the clerical abuse scandal on their vocations, some seminarians told Our Sunday Visitor about the contempt and ridicule they have received, while one spoke of his distrust for older clergy.

"Lots of people will make joking references to the sex abuse scandal upon learning that I am studying to be a priest," said Patrick Brosamer of the Archdiocese of Anchorage. "When I wear clerics in public, I often get dirty looks from strangers. Many people hate the Church."

"I find that it is difficult to not question the judgments of any priest or religious who has been ordained or professed longer than ten years," said Dominican Brother Gabriel Thomas Mosher. "I'm always wondering if they have done something bad and have not been caught, or if they knew about something bad and didn't report."

"As a religious I find that when I am interacting with the public I am constantly concerned about how my interactions with youths will be interpreted," he added. "I know that the loss of trust that is in my own heart is also a disposition that others have when they look at me. It is as if there is a perpetual Sword of Damocles over my head."

 
 

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