SYRACUSE (NY)
Post Standard
December 16, 2018
At last, the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse has released the names of 57 priests, alive and dead, who were credibly accused of sexual abuse since 1950. For the first time, we can begin to see the scale of the clergy sexual abuse crisis in our midst. It is horrifying.
Two weeks ago, Bishop Robert J. Cunningham wisely reversed his previous stance of keeping the names of accused priests secret unless the victims went public first. Cunningham, who is nearing retirement, said he changed his mind after concluding that “this practice has become a roadblock to moving our local Church forward.”
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse today released a list of priests with credible allegations of child sexual abuse against them.
Indeed, trust in the church and its leadership has been damaged, perhaps irreparably, by their past failures to protect children from predator priests, a lack of transparency and accountability to parents and parishioners, and hostility to survivors of clergy sexual abuse.
Sixteen years after the Boston Globe first exposed the clergy sex abuse crisis in the church, the scandals keep on coming. Just this week, an Australian cardinal was convicted of molesting two children in the 1990s. In July, an American cardinal resigned after being accused of improper sexual behavior toward seminarians. Pope Francis has called bishops to a meeting in February at the Vatican to address it.
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