August 16, 2018 – Cardinal O’Malley laments ‘egregious failures to protect children’ in wake of scathing PA grand jury report
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley issued a statement Thursday addressing a shocking grand jury report that found that hundreds of Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania molested more than 1,000 children since the 1940s, and senior church officials covered up the abuse.
“There are times when words fail us – when they do not capture the depth of overwhelming situations we sometimes face in life. For the Church in the United States this is one of those times,” O’Malley wrote. “The Pennsylvania Grand Jury’s report and the first-hand expressions of horror and devastating pain experienced by survivors once again wrench our hearts with the unimaginable that tragically is all too real for those who carry this pain. Once again we hear each excruciating word they share. We remain shamed by these egregious failures to protect children and those who are vulnerable and affirm our commitment that these failures will never be repeated.”
O’Malley went on to say that the Catholic Church “must embrace spiritual conversion and demand legal transparency and pastoral accountability for all who carry out its mission. This transformation is not easily achieved, but in all aspects it is imperative. The way we prepare priests, the way we exercise pastoral leadership and the way we cooperate with civil authorities; all these have to be consistently better than has been the case.”