WARREN (OH)
Tribune Chronicle
September 9, 2018
By Brenda J. Linert
Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas pointed out a few weeks ago in the Tribune Chronicle that sexual scandals and inappropriate behavior are as old as the Bible.
True, but these days, it’s just the last 70 years on which all eyes are focused. That’s the time frame included in the scathing grand jury report released last month by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on sexual abuse within Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic Church.
The report outlines evidence that bishops and other church leaders covered up child sex abuse by more than 300 priests dating back to 1947. The report states priests not only abused more than 1,000 children, but then church leaders persuaded victims not to report abuse and law enforcement not to investigate it. It’s baffling that this could go on ignored for so long. Bringing to light the dark seediness of these actions has renewed cynicism and mistrust that exists increasingly in society – even in this very institution we’ve been taught from birth is the one place that is good and pure, where we can turn for spiritual cleansing and in time of need.
I have been a practicing Catholic all my life. I was born and baptized into the Altoona-Johnstown, Pa., Catholic Diocese and attended Mass there regularly. My parents still live and attend church there. I studied, received the sacraments and attended CCD each week through the 12th grade at St. Anthony of Padua Church, a tight-knit Italian Catholic church in Windber, Pa., a small coal-mining town just outside of Johnstown. My husband and I were wed at St. Anthony 23 years ago. The public high school I attended was not far from Johnstown’s Bishop McCort High School.
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