PENNSYLVANIA
WJLA
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A former Roman Catholic bishop of Pittsburgh who now heads the Washington archdiocese has apologized for initially voicing doubts about a seminarian’s claims in 1988 that as a young boy he had been sexually abused by a priest.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl says Tim Bendig, who since left the seminary and is now a businessman, “told the truth about a priest who was a terrible danger to children and without his action that priest might have continued in the ministry.”
“Telling that truth helped all of us to become a better church,” Wuerl said in an interview Nov. 23 in the church newspaper in Washington, the Catholic Standard. …
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement Wednesday that the group is glad Bendig is pleased with the apology. But, he said, SNAP believes Wuerl is using Bendig to do “damage control” ahead of grand jury disclosures on how Pennsylvania dioceses dealt with abuse claims, including when Wuerl was bishop from 1988 to 2006.
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