ASHTABULA (OH)
Ashtabula Star Beacon
November 11, 2018
Years into the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church, we still see signs that some in the Church’s institutional leadership still don’t get it.
Earlier this month, Bishop George V. Murry of the Youngstown Catholic Diocese released a list of about two dozen priests who have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of a minor in the Youngstown Diocese. Of those, almost one third spent time in Ashtabula County. But that fact was not known until several days after the names were released, which is an unfortunate microcosm for how the Church as an organization has handled the entire scandal.
Murry seems a genuine, sincere leader. Multiple times during the news conference on the subject he talked about how angry and embarrassed he was this issue had not been resolved. He had harsh words for some of his fellow bishops, saying any who helped in the cover up should be removed and calling out those who still fail to understand the damage sexual assault does to children.
But Church lawyers did him no favors with how they advised Murry and the diocese to handle the release of the names. The news conference took place on a Tuesday and only after a barrage of media members, including the Star Beacon, requested the priest’s assignments did Murry overrule the Church lawyers — who had told Murry to release only the names, whether they were alive or dead and whether they were alive or dead at the time accusations were made against them — and promise to release a full career background for each priest.
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