HARRISBURG (PA)
Patriot Ledger
February 26, 2019
By Charles Thompson
Shaun Daugherty has now taken his three-year public crusade for justice for clergy sex abuse victims just about everywhere.
And it’s led him to a stark conclusion: For now, the local battles over state law are as important as anything that the Roman Catholic Church is attempting to do on a global scale.
“Everybody had better protect their kids, because the Roman Catholic Church is way too big to police themselves, and they’re not even interested in doing that at this point,” Daugherty said he has concluded upon his return from Rome, where he participated in the church’s global meeting on the protection of minors.
Daugherty, who was abused by a priest in his native Johnstown in the 1980s, was one of 12 sex abuse victims from around the world invited to meet with the organizers of the conference. While he appreciated the chance to make a direct case to top church leaders (Pope Francis did not attend that session), he found what he viewed as the lack of concrete action at the conference appalling.
“They’re still researching. They’re still talking,” Daugherty concluded. “It’s gut-wrenching to me. I’d say it was funny if it wasn’t so disgusting.”
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