YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
The Vindicator
November 2, 2018
Vindicator Editorial staff
In one sense, Tuesday ranks as one of the darkest days in the 75-year history of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown. On that day, Bishop George V. Murry and other church leaders released a long-awaited list of 34 names of priests and other church authorities who have been credibly accused of the most horrid and heinous of crimes: sexually abusing minor children.
In another sense, however, Tuesday rose as the dawn of a new day for the six-county diocese as the results of the intensive investigation could now pave the way for a cleansing of some of the many stains the long-standing sex-abuse scandal have left on the Catholic church in our region, state and nation.
To be sure, however, the report does not bring full closure to the abominable abuse scandal. The deep psychological wounds of dozens of young children who were victimized at the hands of those on the list even decades ago will continue to fester.
But knowing that their voices were heard and taken seriously should at least provide those victims some degree of comfort and closure. For the broader church, the report at last lets in a few rays of hope, healing, transparency and accountability in openly acknowledging the many years of aberrant behavior on the part of priests who committed the unseemly acts and on the part of some church leaders who covered up abusive acts or minimized their destructiveness.
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