NORWICH (CT)
The Day [New London CT]
January 2, 2022
Thank you, Lisa McGinley, for your article “Money is the least of what the church has to lose” (Dec. 26). As a Catholic priest in West Virginia, I follow the “Abuse Tracker” website closely and found your article there. You have expressed many of my concerns more clearly and concisely than any other article I have seen. You have given us a very helpful perspective on our hypocrisy of failing to practice what we preach. We are seriously undermining our stated mission by destroying our credibility.
In all of the Gospels, hypocrisy by religious leaders was the ONLY situation that brought out Jesus’ anger!
I am grateful to journalists and attorneys who, whatever their motivation, have forced the church to face up to our systemic faults and grant some justice to our victims. They have also forced us to become an instrument of raising the consciousness of our whole society about child sexual abuse, which even law enforcement has colluded in covering up. I thank God for you all and pray for your courage and integrity to continue!
John Finnell
South Charleston, West Virginia