WILKES-BARRE (PA)
Citizens Voice
November 17, 2018
Parish priests have spent the months since a devastating Pennsylvania grand jury report in August apologizing to congregants for the conduct of the hierarchy and trying to reassure the faithful that the Catholic Church has launched an era of reform.
Amid that contrition and reassurance, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, generally, and former Scranton Bishop James C. Timlin, specifically, have displayed a stunning level of tone-deafness.
The grand jury report revealed up to 70 years of child sexual abuse by hundreds of priests is six dioceses statewide and, worse, inaction and coverups by bishops. All eight Pennsylvania dioceses now are under federal investigation.
Timlin is accused in the report of not doing enough to protect young people from predatory priests, including a case in which he allegedly shielded and transferred a priest who had raped a teenaged girl and facilitated her abortion.
In response, Bishop Joseph Bambera barred Timlin from representing the diocese.
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