NEW JERSEY
The Record
Monday, June 18, 2012
BY DEENA YELLIN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
HAWORTH — A local priest is providing a rare, intensive look inside a Roman Catholic priesthood tarred and shaken by the child sex-abuse scandals.
The crisis didn’t just harm victims and test the faith of believers, asserts the Rev. Stephen Fichter, pastor of Sacred Heart parish. It also affected priests innocent of any wrongdoing.
Some priests were angered at diocesan leaders for their lack of action, and others felt shame for the church and for themselves as its representatives. There was paranoia they could be accused falsely, and many said the incidents made them wary of interactions with congregants, especially kids. Some even stopped wearing their collars in public for fear of heckling.
Those are among the findings of the recently published book, “Same Call, Different Men: The Evolution of the Priesthood Since Vatican II,” (Liturgical Press 2012), in which Fichter and co-authors explored changes in the priesthood over the past 40 years through interviews with hundreds of priests nationwide.
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