The author was at Saint Mary Parish. The photo was taken by Robert D. Karpinski.
A report from the Nebraska attorney general's office identified hundreds of victims who had made credible allegations of sexual abuse against 57 Catholic Church officials in the state.
A lawsuit was filed against the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, as well as the bishop of the diocese, claiming that a child was sexually abused by a priest at a Catholic church in Myrtle Beach between 1990 and 1994.
The director of the documentary "Procession" sums up the experience of being sexually abused by clergy when he says: "The thing to know about this abuse is not just being sexually abused in such a tender age, it's being abused by an entire belief system." It is difficult to comprehend the level of abuse that the Catholic Church instills in believers by showing them rituals and symbols. There is no fixing that. There is no giving back what was taken from these guys. All we can hope for is to move forward.
I have been a survivor of child sexual abuse for over 30 years, and have had the experience within a powerful, male-dominated religious organization.
The structure of all-male leadership in the Roman Catholic Church needs to be changed.
I am not the only victim of a priest's abuse, but I am a member of a smaller subset of that community. After the abuse ended, I became a Catholic priest.
I joined the institution instead of running away from the Catholic Church. My siblings and I were taught to love the church. Worship and rituals are at the center of our family life. Despite the sexual abuse, the Catholic Church drew me into it's life because of its bond with me. When I entered the seminary at the age of 18, I suppose the deep level of bonding prevented me from acknowledging that the institution and one of its representatives was hurting me.
On May 29, 1993, I was ordination. Over the course of my nine years in active ministry, I went to the authorities several times to report my sexual abuse. I asked that my abuser be removed from ministry.
They offered thoughts and prayers, but not much else.
My abuser was still in active ministry. At one point, one of my sisters saw him in the church sanctuary with the altar boys and girls. I asked for him to be removed once again.
There were thoughts and prayers, but no change.
The Boston Globe published the results of an investigation in 2002 that resulted in the criminal prosecution of five priests. The facade of the Catholic Church began to fall. The faithful were left wondering how any of this could happen within their church after the Dioceses were swept up in grand jury investigations.
The district attorney for the city of Philadelphia took out an ad in The New York Times asking for victims of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest to come forward. I read it again and again. I had to come forward. I had to say something. I wanted my voice heard.
I testified before a Philadelphia grand jury as a priest. This was the first time that anyone with authority heard and believed me, even though I had already shared my story with my family and friends. The support I received from my family and friends was matched by the tears I saw on the faces of many of the grand jurors as they listened to me, a priest dressed in his clerical collar, share my story.
The priest who sexually abused me and is accused of abusing many other children over many years in many parishes was never prosecuted. He was removed from the clerical state by the Catholic Church decades after his ordination. He was shuffled from parish to parish because preserving the institution was more important than keeping children safe. The institutional, male-dominated church circled the wagons around the perpetrators while offering us thoughts and prayers. The statute of limitations expired in Pennsylvania and my abuser was never prosecuted.
The scope of the abuse crisis nationally and the reality of being heard and believed by investigators from the Philadelphia district attorney's office made it clear to me that I needed to walk away from active priestly ministry in the fall of 2002. I could no longer serve within an institution that failed to protect me and thousands of other children. The director of my retreat offered words of support when I was on retreat. He said that a priest killed his soul as a boy. The Church has broken your heart as a priest. You will use your mind to heal those experiences.
My nine years of priestly ministry allowed me to do a lot. I knew that I needed to move beyond the priesthood in order to save myself.
I have always been aware that the issue of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy must be at the forefront of my life. It took me a long time to admit what happened to me, so I can't pretend or deny.
The Catholic Church has acknowledged its painful past by making an effort to compensate victims. There is more visibility and apologies for sexual abuse within the church, but the institution needs to dig deeper into its structures of leadership, priestly formation and theology of priesthood.
As a survivor, I want to make sure that no other child is the same person I was. Systemic change in the church hierarchy is one way to ensure this. The leadership needs to chart a path forward with the voices of victims, women and non-clergy in order to move beyond thoughts and prayers.
Robert D. Karpinski is a professor at the university. The University Library is one of the things he oversees along with the Office of Academic Events, Academic Integrity, and the George Ruff Institute of Global Homelessness. Rob is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies. He was a Roman Catholic priest in active ministry in Connecticut before moving to Chicago. He was a priest and served in parish ministry, high school education and priestly formation. He has a degree in educational administration and supervision from New York University and an M.Div. from Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary.
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