CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
June 5, 2023
Two weeks ago, a new, horrific chapter on sexual abuse by the Catholic religious began. By laying bare the magnitude of the tragedy, the Illinois attorney general heightened the consciousness of everyone to this issue. Once again, Catholics and others read a report wondering if they will recognize a name.
Catholics cowered at the thought of having to answer questions from friends or simply wondered what those too polite to ask were thinking. However, another set of victims gets scant press: the vast majority of priests and religious who have committed their lives to the service of others, the holy ones who have been steadfast in their faith and devoted to those they serve.
Every time one of these priests hesitates to wear his clerical collar in public, every time he approaches the altar wondering what his congregation might be thinking of him, every time he hesitates to linger after Mass for fear of being asked an uncomfortable question, that priest is a victim.
On a recent Sunday, the presider at our Mass shared that he was in an auto service waiting room at the time he read the Tribune article. He happened to be wearing his clerical collar and immediately became self-conscious. He told a story of a kind stranger who reached out to him with an unmistakable gesture of care and concern. That priest is a victim. That stranger knew him to be a victim.
As a former seminarian, whose formation experience was near idyllic, I am struggling with this report. I can only imagine the angst I would feel if I were still wearing the clerical collar.
— Timothy F. Brown, Forest Park