5 Questions Before You Leave the Catholic Church

[Starboard Tack]

5. Great interview, as per usual on Fresh Air

But I'm surprised it took so long. I have a friend, now 70 years old who was molested by a priest as a teenager. She first told me about the incident over 40 years ago, when we were both living in Rome, of all places. I bumped into her again after 30+ years in Los Angeles and she got to talking about the pedophilia scandal in the RC church and how surprised she was that it could be happening in her church. I reminded her of what she'd told me in the past and she said "I thought it was just me. I never thought there might be other victims".

This tells me that, first of all, pedophiles are very skilled at making their victims believe they are "special". When those same pedophiles are in such a position of power over their flock, with no oversight, we have a recipe for abuse on a massive scale. Catholics need to clean their house if they want to retain or regain any semblance of respect.