Brother Cansrel, Father Leck
Trigger warnings: priests, rape, suicide.
First disclaimer: I was not sexually assaulted by a priest. That is not the story I'm about to tell.
Second: If you were raised Catholic and your experience was not like mine, I am relieved for you and glad. I respect your different story. I only ask that you respect my story, realize that I am not an isolated example, and believe me.
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Last week, the Pennsylvania Attorney General released a grand jury report listing 300 Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children across the course of seven decades while a hierarchy of Catholic Church leaders covered it up. Since the report was released, hundreds more people have called Pennsylvania’s clergy abuse hotline.
I grew up in Pennsylvania. My kindergarten, my grade school, my high school, and the high school to which most of my friends matriculated are all represented on that list of predator priests. The bishop who confirmed me, James Timlin of the Diocese of Scranton, a man I …
First disclaimer: I was not sexually assaulted by a priest. That is not the story I'm about to tell.
Second: If you were raised Catholic and your experience was not like mine, I am relieved for you and glad. I respect your different story. I only ask that you respect my story, realize that I am not an isolated example, and believe me.
******
Last week, the Pennsylvania Attorney General released a grand jury report listing 300 Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children across the course of seven decades while a hierarchy of Catholic Church leaders covered it up. Since the report was released, hundreds more people have called Pennsylvania’s clergy abuse hotline.
I grew up in Pennsylvania. My kindergarten, my grade school, my high school, and the high school to which most of my friends matriculated are all represented on that list of predator priests. The bishop who confirmed me, James Timlin of the Diocese of Scranton, a man I …