Severity of priest abuse scandal eludes Detroit archbishop | Opinion

Detroit Free Press
August 19, 2018

https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/readers/2018/08/19/archbishop-clueless-abuse-scandal-engler-unfit-msu/1023520002/

Catholic Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron Photo by Niraj Warikoo

Archbishop Allen Vigneron demonstrates that he does not fully understand the priest sex abuse problem.

By bringing up the spiritual and moral failings of the priests and bishops involved, his focus on breaking the vow of celibacy and not living within the call of chastity is off base. The sexual abuse of minors is a violent crime, one that steals innocence from a child and many times robs them of healthy sexual relationships as adults.

Why is it a more severe crime when the perpetrators are priests? By their authority within a parish these abusers grossly misuse power and trust. They also damage the victim’s image of God. God sides with the victims, of this I am sure. Yet, one can’t help but see how this would harm the victim’s ability to connect with a church community and sour the victim’s idea of a loving and compassionate God. Many victims struggle with depression and some have resorted to suicide.

Vigneron’s suggestion to priests includes prayer and confession to keep vigilant in their vow of celibacy. Raping children is not merely a lapse in the vow of celibacy, just like the embezzling of funds would not be merely a failure in a vow of poverty.

These violent crimes involve more than the misuse of God’s gift of sexuality. They are an absolute abuse of power, both by the perpetrators and the bishops involved in the long-term cover-up.

Archbishop Vigneron’s call to abusers should be: Get out, repent, publicly acknowledge guilt, make reparations, and get psychological help.

Bridget Theodoroff

Washington Township

The archbishop of Detroit of says that these predator priests should either repent or get out. Wow, what a terrible penalty. How about just throwing them in to the slammer like any other child molester would get?

Robert McKenzie

Sterling Heights

I enjoyed reading your Aug. 12 article about kit homes.

When I was stationed in Washington, D.C., and later lived in Wyoming, Ohio, I recall seeing Lustron Homes at Quantico Marine Base, Va., and several blocks from my circa 1889 Victorian home in the Cincinnati area.

In operation from 1947 to 1950, Lustron built homes that varied from 725 to over 1,100 square feet.

Built upon a slab, the homes were constructed with steel and porcelain exteriors, interiors and roof.

Their design appeared almost like an early White Caste restaurant, while they offered various colors.

In a metropolitan area of more than 4 million, there must be several Lustrons in the Detroit region.

Jeffrey D. Brasie

Grosse Pointe Woods

Americans should be careful about saying any criticism toward President Donald Trump as John Brennan found out. Make a remark about Trump and there could be a knock on your door in the middle of the night, and the next thing you know you are in a boxcar with no windows heading East.

Robert Pegler

Plymouth

Once again John Engler proves why he's the wrong person to be president of a public university when he turned thumbs down on a revealing issue of the recent Michigan State University alumni magazine. Instead, he approved an issue that mostly ignores the problems he was hired to solve, as well as demeans people who were harmed by those actions.

His attitude is encapsulated in the issue's headline: "The university, which faced the most difficult challenge in its history, has emerged and is going to be stronger, safer and more competitive than ever." The key word being "competitive." I thought universities were supposed to be places of teaching and discovery.  If the emphasis is on competitiveness, you end up with people sweeping problems under the rug.

But business-first John doesn't seem to get that. His focus, as always is on the financial aspect, which is fine if you're the dean of the business college. When will the regents of this tax-supported institution realize that John Engler is the wrong person at the wrong time at the wrong place.

Carmen Sarotte

Berkley

Fearmongering by the mainstream media is casting a pall of divisiveness over America. 

Journalists practice the very things they accuse the president of: lying, race baiting, acting recklessly and conspiring with Russia.

Every day stories are bent to attack a duly elected president or anyone you disagree with, while ignoring relevant facts and anything positive.

If you practice Russian divisiveness strategies by limiting your stories to only those that are negative toward conservatives and President Trump’s administration, what does that say about journalism?

The mainstream media has become a division of the Democratic Party. You can’t be biased AND trusted. The polls on trust in the-media prove it.

Unfortunately, journalists reinforce this negative bias daily. But you are only proving true the very things you are trying to defend – you are both antagonistic and fake. You are Putin’s puppet.

If you want respect, try respecting us for a change. Give us the whole truth and leave your opinions at home (or in the opinion page) where they belong.

Christopher Bliss

Warren

On Aug. 13, during his public signing of the John McCain National Defense Authorization Act named for Senator John McCain, Donald Trump avoided mentioning the man so deserving of this honor.

John McCain is a man held captive in Vietnam for five and a half years, a man who rejected an earlier release from prison, in order that he did not return home ahead of companions who were captured before him, a man who publicly defended the legitimacy of his opponent Barack Obama's candidacy during the 2008 presidential campaign, a man who received scorn from Donald Trump for being captured, because Trump, the recipient of five draft deferments during the Vietnam War, avoided capture while attending New York Military Academy.

In a way, it is appropriate that a man so small, so petty and so decidedly unheroic did not defile the name of a great American hero by even allowing the name John McCain to pass through his lips.

Bob Ross

Pellston