KENTUCKY
Lexington Herald-Leader
By Beth Musgrave — bmusgrave@herald-leader.com
FRANKFORT — One of Kentucky’s longest-serving state lawmakers and strongest advocates for children has publicly acknowledged that he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest while in junior high school.
Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, disclosed the abuse in a letter to the editor that was published May 30 in the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The letter championed the plight of the country’s nuns and condemned the Vatican for trying to impose more order on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which counts more than 50,000 nuns as members. In April, Pope Benedict XVI ordered a re-tooling of the Catholic womens’ group because it had not been more vocal against gay marriage, abortion and women’s ordination.
In his letter, Burch, 80, said nuns have been a constant, loving and positive presence in his life.
“I was never sexually abused by a nun, but I was sexually abused by a priest,” Burch wrote.
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