ARIZONA
ascentral
EJ Montini, columnist | azcentral.com
There’s a very good pope in the Vatican these days and that has helped us to forget about the very bad priests that have operated in some Roman Catholic churches.
Including here.
This week the Catholic Diocese of Gallup, N.M., released what it called an updated list of priests who it claims were “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors. At least 17 of them worked in Arizona.
This was a big story once. We’ve moved on. The same can’t be said for the victims.
And while the release of this information is a good thing, and may help other victims who choose to come forward, how could it have possibly taken so long? And how many other dioceses within the church are still holding out?
Back in April of 2002, over 12 years ago, I wrote a column that began:
“I called the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix to ask if the Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien had given police a list of all clergy members, past and present, who have been accused of sexual misconduct. I expected the answer to be yes.
“After all, last Sunday The Arizona Republic printed an article by Bishop O’Brien in which he discussed at length the problem of sexual abuse by priests. Among other things, the bishop said, ‘Make no mistake: Such misconduct with minors is deplorable. We cannot condone it; we must condemn it. Such misconduct with minors is a betrayal of trust of the highest order.’
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.