The last few months have been peppered with stories about the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests. The more recent reports stem from the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.
While this news in the context of history shouldn’t be surprising to me at this point — it is. The headlines about these abusive priests hit harder than in the past.
The extent of the abuse in terms of time and the scale of the cover-up operation is incredibly large. According to CNN, the report shows over 300 priests have been accused of abusing over 1,000 children in only six dioceses — an area is overseen by one particular bishop — over the past 70 years in Pennsylvania.
Kali Nelson | Argonaut
Bishops oversee all priests, deacons and laity in a specific region. Bishops answer to archbishops, cardinals and the pope in that order, but may not necessarily see anyone above the archbishop.
I was raised Catholic. And, although I might be seen as one of the “bad Catholics” for rarely being involved in the church, I still relate to Catholicism.
This scandal and historic problem still hits close to home.
When people ask about my faith, they often generalize and assume — and often they are right in their assumptions. They tend to think of scandals like this. I expect more from my church than populating the news like this.
When Pope Francis took the papal seat, it seemed like a breath of fresh air. I felt I could get with and understand this new, progressive pope. I thought this would be the dawn of a better version of my faith. Maybe I was wrong.
The fact these priests kept their positions in the church and some were even promoted is the biggest wrongdoing toward Catholics, Pennsylvania community members and most importantly, those abused. These men do not deserve to wear the collar and they disgrace the Catholics who do real good.
The church must take a good hard look at itself before moving forward. Until then, it will continue as the butt of each joke and conspiracy theory. It will continue as a religion with more harm than help.
It needs to remove these men who show such a disregard of their vows and the teachings of the church to go so far as to harm children. We cannot let them stay in the dark anymore, we never should have let them in the first place.
They need to be turned into the authorities and the church needs to take a no-nonsense approach to abuse, which it should have taken from the beginning.
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kalinelson6