BEAUMONT (TX)
Beaumont Enterprise
October 14, 2018
Catholic Church officials in Texas are finally taking the right approach to the horrendous scandal of priests who sexually abused children. The only way to deal with this outrage is to fully expose it and make every effort to ensure it never happens again.
To do that, however, Catholic officials in the Beaumont diocese and others in Texas need to completely follow through on this pledge so that all Texans can be confident in their findings.
All dioceses should do what the San Antonio diocese is doing to guarantee the fullest accounting — appoint an outside group headed by a respected judge to go through church files and assist this process. That will counteract any internal tendency to cover up something that should be disclosed. As with any financial audit, there is no substitute for unbiased review from a neutral observer.
For example, four priests from the Beaumont diocese have already been named over the years for varying levels of abuse. If those are the only priests identified in the final report from the Beaumont diocese, some Southeast Texans will suspect, fairly or unfairly, that other priests are still being protected.
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