PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change
by Kathy Kane
I attended the trial on Wednesday. It was one of the more uneventful days with a lengthy cross examination of a detective regarding documents related to Fr. Brennan. Instead, I’d like to share what happened during the break. “Had it” whose name is Kate, flew in to attend a few days of the trial. We went to lunch with Beth, a frequent commentor on C4C, Steve, a clergy abuse victim and Bob, a retired school teacher and former seminarian. Steve attends the trial every day and Bob has joined a few survivors and family members at the lunch break each day. It’s an interesting mix: Beth, who is a practicing Catholic very involved on a parish level; Kate who has struggled with practicing her faith in recent years; a victim; and a former seminarian.
I wish everyone could have joined us because the conversations we had are the ones that need to happen on the parish level and probably never will. Steve shared that he was a former altar boy under Cardinal Krol and the honor he felt in that role as a child, and then later the sting of the rejection by the Church as a clergy abuse victim. When Bob was asked about the climate of St Charles Seminary in the 1960’s, he was very honest that he had a positive experience. He also spoke of his frustration when a problem seminarian he reported went on to be ordained. Beth who is seeking a pastoral response by the clergy to our victims, asked Steve if he would even want priests to join at the vigils with us. Kate shared her observations that a priest in court that morning, who was there to support Msgr. Lynn, seemed to literally turn his back in on Fr. Brennan. I guess pastoral concern is a pick and choose option.
I told Steve and Bob what Susan and I hope to accomplish with the C4C site and that we felt that the side calling all priests pedophiles is no different than the side calling all victims liars. When two sides of opposing viewpoints do nothing but scream at each other, no children are protected and no victims are comforted. Bob, who I just met today, seems to be a thoughtful, prayerful type asked me if I was still Catholic. I started to answer with, “well my kids…well I am angry…,” and then simply looked at him and said “I don’t know.” He answered, “I understand.”
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