KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal
[with video]
Written by
Peter Smith
The Courier-Journal
Ten years ago this month, Shannon Age and 242 other plaintiffs settled their lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville over sexual abuse by priests and other church workers for what was then a near-record amount of $25.7 million.
Even before the settlement, Age had begun a reconciliation with the Catholic Church, despite years of battles with church bureaucracy and traumatic memories over the abusive priest who had exploited her parents’ trust.
But when her husband, Steve, told her he felt a divine call to become a deacon, Age “was very much against it,” she said. “I didn’t want my husband being a member of the clergy.”
Now she regularly joins him at the training program with about 20 other deacon candidates and their wives.
“Healing is possible,” Age, 53, said.
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