Sexual abuse in church cannot be ignored

In a recent newspaper article, I read where the Vatican is preparing to defrock Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, for sexually abusing children. Another report indicated that the Illinois attorney general is working to expose the names of 500 priests who have also been charged with sexually abusing kids. It’s disgusting. Where does it end?

The shock of widespread clerical sexual misconduct has been reported on an almost daily basis. No crime is more repulsive than the abuse of a child.

Clerical sexual abuse of children may prove to have cataclysmic results: A church with 2000 years of history is passing through a time of crisis.

The movie “Spotlight” highlighted the extent of clerical sexual abuse of children as it took place in Boston and the surrounding Massachusetts area. It showed howe a culture of secrecy protected degenerate priests from being brought to justice. The systemic practice of the church to transfer discovered predator priests from parish to parish didn’t solve the problem; it made it worse. What has been reported already make one wonder just how pervasive this problem is.

The Rhode Island attorney general has promised to break through this curtain of secrecy; he promised to investigate, expose and prosecute reported predator priests in Rhode Island. I hope that Bishop Tobin provides the transparency that be necessary for him to accomplish this. Only when the truth of this wickedness is totally known and prosecuted will the victims of this abuse get true justice, and the church experience true reform. Until then, a cloud of dust, mistrust and suspicion will persist. Jerry Bousquet North Smithfield