Hi! I had a quick question that might be kinda dumb: what is the "grand jury report" referenced in that prayer request? I feel like a bit of a clueless catholic...
Don’t worry, you are not alone - I guessed at what it was but didn't’t know the full extent until I researched it myself. Which makes me so angry because I wish more people were talking about this disgusting, momentous event in the Church.
Short version, from what I understand: Back when all the sex abuse scandals were happening (60s-70s and whatnot, immediately post Vatican II when everything was a mess and there weren’t really any safeguards to protect children in the Church) not all of the priests were caught. While 150-200 priests were exposed for sexually abusing children by the Boston Globe (such as depicted in the movie “Spotlight,”) it has just been uncovered that 300 more priests just in Pennsylvania alone had sexually abused children back then too, and the Church covered it up. So a lot of the victims are senior citizens now and a lot of the priests involved are dead, but the grand jury report lists a the names of the priests and what each did. It is over 1,000 pages. Here is the link. It is graphic.
I am devastated and angry. Angry that this happened, angry at the priests for how they handled it (while some may have just been doing what they thought was right by keeping things “in house”, many were doing it to save their own image and keep their power, and that infuriates me. You can’t care about the Church and not be angry, because the Church is the Body of Christ on earth whose arm is supposed to extend to heal and give life and hope to our downtrodden humanity. Instead, they violated sacred trust and duty by immeasurably wounding innocent children entrusted to them.
