Grand juries needed throughout the nation
The Pennsylvania grand jury report released on Aug. 14 documents clergy sexual abuse and related cover-ups by bishops in six Catholic dioceses in the commonwealth (Aug. 15, ” ‘They Hid It All’: Report Accuses 300 Priests of Abusing More Than 1,000 Children”).
The similarity in cover-up behavior found in the dioceses is shocking and obviously systemic. Most parents would never allow a child to be near a person who is a known sexual abuser or even suspected of being one. But these bishops didn’t hesitate to do so.
Is Pennsylvania the only place where the Catholic Church has behaved so horrifically? Hardly. However, convincing documentation does not exist as clearly as it now does in Pennsylvania.
Civil governments must take the lead, as was done in Pennsylvania, and do what the church won’t do. Many more grand juries need to be impaneled and empowered to find and declare the truth because, without truth, there can be no justice and, without justice, there will be no healing.
Thus, throughout the country, people should demand the establishment of far-reaching grand jury investigations into the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal. Doing so would serve the common good of our society. FATHER JAMES CONNELL
Milwaukee, Wis. Now the sheep are finding their voices. The shame they bore needlessly for too long is now being heaped upon the shepherds. God bless the sheep! TIM HANNON Economy, Pa.
The child abuse scandal involving Pennsylvania clergy in the Catholic Church is certainly appalling. However, we must keep in mind the fact that there were hundreds and hundreds of priests who were holy men who served their congregations without any scandal during that time period. Perhaps now more than ever, we need to keep our clergy onour prayers. WILLIAM J. SWITALA Whitehall
Thanks to the current relationship between the media and the president, I’ve created a new word: Newsblind. Yes, it’s the same principle as “noseblind,” but in this case, when the media is unable to be impartial and objective and doesn’t realize it, it has become, in a word, “newsblind.”
When I was a kid, I had a shortwave radio. My father told me that if I wanted the Soviet view, listen to Radio Moscow. If I wanted the American view, it was the Voice of America.
If I wanted to learn what was really going on, the BBC was the place to go. He was right. Even today, the BBC World Service is the place to go for spinless news reporting — journalism as it was meant to be.
Don’t be “newsblind.” Be a skeptic and use as many different sources as you can. DAVE HROMANIK
West Mifflin
I cannot understand why people in this city and surrounding areas do not protest en masse concerning the finalization of the breakup in 2019 between Highmark and UPMC (July 5, “1 Year Away, UPMC’s Split from Highmark Has Lost Sting: ‘The Market Has Pretty MuchAdapted.’ “).
Protests are held all over the place to get attention to other complaints. Yes, their complaints are justified, but where are the multitude of individuals who will be affected by this breakup? Don’t they care? I care, andthis is why, to those who will be affected, I say: Do something. Contact your state legislators and anyone else you can think of anddemand action. THERESA CIOLLI
Hays