I cannot say that I was shocked, but I was saddened, by the alarming grand jury report about the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese and alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests over a 40-year period. Two former bishops, one still living, allegedly covered up the abuse. If guilty of the egregious conduct of which he is accused, including threatening victims of abuse with excommunication from the church if they pushed their complaints, former Bishop Joseph Adamec, should be defrocked and stripped of the title of bishop.
But you will never see it happen.
The statute of limitations in Pennsylvania should be changed, as state Attorney General Kathleen Kane has suggested, to have no limitations on prosecution of sexual abuse cases where minors are victims.
The worst part of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese cases was that the two sitting bishops during the time apparently violated the charter they vowed to uphold, the charter for the protection of abuse of children. Inexcusable.
The sitting bishops, right up to Pope Francis, do not get it. Cardinal George Pell, a high-ranking prelate at the Vatican, who was given the post by Pope Francis, had a paper trail a mile long of sexual abuse by priests problems from his native Australia.
The Catholic Church places bishops and prelates like they are gods. They are not any more gods than we all are; they are only human! They have faults and failings like all of us.
I have now lost hope the Catholic Church will ever get a handle on the problem and will ever change. The years-long cover-ups, where the priests and prelates cared more about the institution than the victims, will probably never change; the rhetoric is half-hearted.
For a lifelong Catholic, the entire sad saga is deeply hurtful.
Gerald Moon
Scranton