MOBILE (AL)
Lagniappe Mobile

September 12, 2018

By Gabriel Tynes

As a wave of new revelations concerning sexual abuse by priests in other parts of the country has come to light, questions about the Archdiocese of Mobile’s past remain mostly in the shadows. Whether churchwide calls for openness and even confession will be heeded here remains to be seen, but there is little doubt there is newfound interest worldwide in how the Catholic Church has handled sexual abuse over the years.

It’s been 16 years since reports of child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston peeled back the curtains on a much broader problem in the Catholic Church, exposing abusive priests and complicit senior church officials nationwide. In response, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) adopted the 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which, among other things, recommends immediately removing any accused…