As the rumors of scandal sweep through the Catholic church, local religious leaders refuse to lose their faith.
“The things that are happening in the Catholic church now prove that we’re all sinners,” said Don Bennis, a deacon at Our Lady of Sorrows in Memphis. “They prove that someone who has problems isn’t going to find a solution to them in the clergy.”
Catholic priests and parish leaders across the country are facing allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct.
According to the New York Times, 55 priests in 17 diocese have been removed because of such accusations since January. There are 194 Catholic dioceses in the country.
The sexual abuse scandal facing the church has already brought down a bishop in Boston. John Geoghan, a Boston priest, was convicted in January of molesting a 10-year-old boy.
On Sunday, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, Maine, promised to hand over a file to prosecutors that contains every allegation of sexual misconduct against its priests.
As churches across the country come face to face with the sins of the fathers, local leaders express sorrow for the past and hope for the future.
“It is indeed a very regrettable situation,” said Dale Johnston, a pastoral assistant at St. Paul’s in Memphis. “While I think a lot of it has been blown out of proportion in the media, a priest accused of those kinds of things certainly does not need to be rotated somewhere else in lieu of getting help.”
Bennis agreed. “Psychologists say there is no cure for behavioral problems like these, so a priest in this condition doesn’t need to be put in a compromising situation,” he said.
He also dismissed the notion that the problem is a struggle with celibacy.
“Some people say it comes from the fact that priests have to maintain celibacy through their lives, and not marry. That may be true, but a man has twelve years to decide whether or not he wants to become a celibate priest. It’s not an overnight decision, and it’s voluntary.”
At St. Paul’s, Johnston said the accusations haven’t affected his congregation.
“It’s had quite the opposite effect here,” he said. “It hasn’t really hurt us at all. In fact, we’ve seen an increase in attendance. We have an average of around four hundred people attend each daily Mass.”
Bennis expressed satisfaction that the Catholic church now seems to be accepting responsibility for the actions of its leaders.
“Again, it just proves that none of us is immune from sin,” he said. “The church isn’t a museum for saints, it’s a hospital for sinners.”
