How ironic is it that two days after "Spotlight" - the movie that captured the dogged efforts of a team of investigative reporters at the Boston Globe to blow the roof off the problem of priest abuse of children in the Boston Archdiocese - we would be reliving this horror once again here in Pennsylvania.
In a truly horrific presentation, state Attorney General Kathleen Kane Tuesday presented a scathing grand jury presentation that once again pointed an accusatory finger at Catholic church leaders, this time in the Altoona-Johnstown Archdiocese.
The report lays out the ugly details of more than 40 years of child abuse at the hands of 34 priests, and the willful conduct of two archbishops to cover it up.
It will be eerily familiar to those in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, who lived through a very similar grand jury presentation a decade ago.
How bad was the rampant abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Archdiocese? The report alleges that church leaders actually created something called a "payout chart" that plotted out how much money a victim would receive depending on the severity of the abuse.
There will be no charges - at least not yet - filed as a result of the grand jury presentment. Most of the cases are now too old to prosecute, and many of the suspected priests have died.
The grand jury report specifically rips two archbishops, Bishop Joseph Adamec and Bishop James Hogan, for failing to report abuse to law enforcement authorities.
They instead "chose to shield the institution and themselves from scandal," the report states.
Sound familiar?
Hogan died in 2005. Adamec did not answer questions from the grand jury, instead asserting his Fifth Amendment rights. He has denied any wrongdoing. The archdiocese released a statement Tuesday, saying they would have no comment other than to note they had "cooperated fully with authorities throughout the investigation." The current archbishop is not suspected of any wrongdoing.
This is not easy - again - for Catholics. I know. I happen to be one, a former altar boy.
Once again I feel a fury building inside of me that church officials would not only allow this to happen on their watch, but in some cases clearly enable it, and then choose to cover it up.
Our columnist Chris Freind today takes a strong stance in terms of what the church needs to do to finally come to grips with the abuse scandal. I don't doubt many people are going to disagree with him. They once again will call us anti-Catholic, just as they did in the wake of the Philadelphia grand jury report and the criminal charges that were eventually lodged against Monsignor William Lynn, my parish pastor.
Lynn now is awaiting a new trial on the charges as he continues to fight to clear his name.
Clearing the name - and the reputation - of the church, may take a little longer.
Yes, it has made me question my faith. No, it has not turned me, as it has so many other, away from the church. I will not stay away from Mass. I don't attend because I'm supposed to as a commandment of my faith. I am no longer beholden to any one man, priest or bishop. I go to Mass for a peaceful hour of reflection in what is an increasingly angry, harried world. I go there looking for a reinvigoration of faith. I don't find it in the wrote responses to the liturgy. I find it in my own personal peace of mind.
That does not mean I am not angry with my church, and church leaders who for so long allowed these depravities to exist.
Once again, I would pose just one question for the church leaders in Altoona-Johnstown who allowed this to happen on their watch.
How did you sleep at night?
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