I had to ask myself recently; What year is this? Sexual abuse and the grooming of victims for sexual abuse is still going on in the Church in 2018? Why won’t the Church allow us to wake up from this nightmare?  Why hasn’t anything been done?  In the name of God What is happening to Christ’s church?

Every time that another priest or diocese or archdiocese is exposed for sexual abuse and the inevitable cover-up it is like being cut open by a flaming, hot knife.  I never knew Bishop Joseph Cistone as a bishop. I did have very little interaction with him in Philadelphia.  The only thing I do remember about him was he was not a warm and fuzzy person. This was sometime in the 90’s.  I do remember him telling seminarians that his father never missed a day of work even when he was ill.  I also remember thinking to myself; that is absolutely ridiculous. (Maybe he had a job that if you didn’t show up you didn’t get paid.)  I still thought it was kind of dumb and really nothing to be proud of or pattern your life after.

Maybe that is the genesis of allowing sexual abusers to work in your diocese. He is also accused of a cover-up, (big surprise), and was accused in the Grand Jury report done by the attorney generals office in Philadelphia of supervising the shredding of personnel  documents that the Grand Jury wanted to see. This was done at the behest of Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua.

It is all so sad and depresses me a little. The Church will not let the wounds of all of us who were ever abused by a priest to be allowed to heal.  The wounds of the Church are not being allowed to heal either. God help us.