Once again, facing a child sex abuse and cover-up scandal, St. John’s Abbey officials trot out the same tired canard about their “policies” about pedophilia. (“Lawsuit targets St. John’s Prep School, abbey,” Dec. 9.)
Let’s be brutally honest here. Dozens and dozens of boys were abused at this Catholic institution, and the crimes were concealed for decades. The reason wasn’t because the school once had a pro-child sex crimes policy that has now been reversed.
The reason is because the school had timid, self-serving clerics who were more concerned about their own reputations and resources than about children’s safety and victims’ well-being.
That, sadly, can’t ever be fixed by some policy or by any set of words on paper.
Letter: St. John’s Abbey doesn’t care about kids’ safety
By David Clohessy
National director, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
St. Cloud Times
December 15, 2009
