Priest Finds Little Solace in Sharing Secret
The Rev. James Moran was asking his usual questions during his chaplain rounds one day last summer at Washington Hospital Center: How are you? Would you like to pray together? But one of the patients on his "Catholic" list bristled at the sight of a clerical collar. The Catholic Church hierarchy's treatment of clergy sex abuse victims was disgusting, the patient told him. "Believe me, I'm not trying to force Jesus down your throat," answered Moran, a beefy 60-year-old with an agonizing secret he had only recently started to let out: "I'm a victim of a priest myself." The patient stared at him from the bed. A question came, point-blank: "Then how can you be a priest?"

Ex-Priest Breaks Code of Silence
Francis McGillicuddy, who left the priesthood in 1972 to marry, is one of the few clergy members from that period willing to talk about his experience in the priesthood. He describes a closed culture where the priests were kept apart from the people they served and the authority of church leaders was unquestioned. - Portland Press Herald, July 31, 2005

Code of Silence Among Priests Shields Abusers
When the Rev. Lawrence Minder told his congregation last month that he had been abused by a priest 30 years ago, the Bothell priest became one of a handful of Roman Catholic priests nationwide to break an unspoken vow: Thou Shalt Not Accuse Fellow Clergy. - Seattle Post Intelligencer, September 23, 2004

NJ Priest Looks Back on Unexpected Career
“We’ve been able to literally save lives with the help of Ken Lasch,” Serrano said. “He’s welcomed us to meet there, he’s offered support to individual victims, and he has traveled long distances to meet with them personally.’’ Serrano said Lasch’s activism on behalf of abuse victims has prevented him from rising in the church hierarchy. “He has distinguished himself in the church across America as an outspoken advocate,” said Serrano. “Few can say that. Most, out of fear for their careers, do not speak out.”

Unnerving Choices for Church Historians
When beloved priests are revealed to be child molesters, Roman Catholic parishes, schools and dioceses face an uncomfortable choice: to remove existing tributes to the clerics and erase glowing references in local histories, or explain to victims and critics why they continue to honor men who also were pedophiles. - Los Angeles Times, July 5, 2004

Massachusetts Priest Unafraid to Criticize Diocese
From his pulpit, the Rev. James Scahill seems like an unlikely agitator. But during that time, as more people have come forward to say they were abused by western Massachusetts priests when they were children, Scahill has emerged as the most vocal clerical critic of the way officials in the Springfield Diocese have handled the allegations. - Associated Press, March 7, 2004

Priest Shortage Worse Than Experts Expected
Traditionalists and reform-minded Catholics debate the causes of the priest shortage and argue over what steps are necessary to stem the tide. What they don’t dispute, however, is that he shortage is having an increasingly profound effect on parish life. - NCR, October 17, 2003

Catholic Priests Group Urges Reform
They call themselves "Voice of the Ordained." They're a mall but vocal group of 150 priests and 52 former priests from three dioceses in and around New York City. - Voice of America, September 23, 2003

Breaking the Vows
Molestation victims believe that priests and bishops who are sexually active with adults create a web of dishonesty in the church. These men are reluctant to reveal wrongdoing by fellow clergy, including child molesters, for fear of being exposed themselves, victims say. - Associated Press, July 12, 2003

A Glimpse at the Mind of a Pedophile
In a chillingly frank account, a former Roman Catholic priest, promoted 20 years ago by Roger M. Mahony, recently described his decades-long career as a pedophile, including his sexual tastes and how he groomed his young victims for abuse. In a 15-hour videotaped deposition in March, Oliver O'Grady described how his heart raced when one of the slim, playful boys he preferred toweled off after a swim. He also said he liked to lift little girls' skirts and peek at their underpants. - LATimes, May 11, 2005

Abuse Filled His Life, Too, Ex-priest Says,
In the Catholic priesthood, Jason Sigler said he sought to heed a calling from God and to find the dignity and respect he never felt as a child from parents who neglected and abandoned him. The former Catholic priest went to jail Thursday in Detroit, the first time he has been incarcerated for sexually abusing minors, though his notorious history as a predator resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements in New Mexico and an expose on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes." - Detroit Free Press, January 17, 2003

Boston's Rebel Priests
Heaven knows there were many reasons for the Vatican to let Cardinal Bernard F. Law go, finally. Some were old: empty pews and collection baskets, a threat of bankruptcy to the archdiocese and criminal prosecution for His Eminence. One was new: a letter signed by 58 lowly parish priests who urged their superior to resign. It was an unprecedented challenge -- and once unthinkable in a city where the church has had dominion since the first Irish immigrant stepped off the boat. - Washington Post, December 19, 2002

Vatican's Gay Comments Concern Massachusetts Episcopalian Bishops
The Episcopal bishops of Massachusetts, in a rare public challenge to the Catholic Church, are warning that a steady stream of comments by Vatican officials critical of gays in the priesthood could lead to hate crimes in the United States. - Boston Globe, December 10, 2002

Half of Catholic Clergy Sees a Gay Presence in Priesthood
Attempting to bring hard data to a persistent rumor in the Catholic Church, researchers said Friday in Chicago that more than half of U.S. priests say they perceive a gay subculture in their diocese or religious institute, with 19 percent saying it clearly exists. - Chicago Tribune, August 17, 2002

The Gay Purge
By scapegoating homosexual priests, the Catholic Church seeks to avoid a tougher look at its secret history of abuse. - SALON.COM, March 27, 2002

Gay Priests Say It's Harder Now to Tell the Truth
Scandal: Some fear the church is making them scapegoats and say they may leave in protest. - LA Times - May 22, 2002

Catholic Priests are Dying of AIDS, Often in Silence
Hundreds of Roman Catholic priests across the United States have died of AIDS-related illnessed, and hundreds more are living with HIV, the virus that causes the disease. - Kansas City Star, January 29, 2000