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Article: Scandal reverberates in U.S. priests' lives.(PRIESTHOOD)(Cover story)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- May 4, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Five years after cases of child sex abuse in the Catholic church broke in the national media, priests across the country report that their public image still suffers because of it and ramifications from both the abuse and the church's handling of it continue to be felt today.
Priests are angry with church leaders for what they perceive to be a shirking of responsibility by the hierarchy for its part in perpetuating past sex abuse through cover-ups and reassignments of pedophile priests. But priests also express concern about their own rights, fearing a church practice of sheltering guilty priests has been replaced by one that inadvertently punishes the innocent ...