For my third project, I chose the topic of the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. My family and I are members of the church and I am passionate about the subject, so I wanted to share my perspective and see how my perspective might change throughout the project. I learned more about how members of the church felt by conducting interviews with them. In my opinion, the members' opinions are some of the most important because they are the ones who entrusted the church and we let down. They deserve to be able to express their opinions on the topic more than third parties do. In conducting my interviews, I learned a lot about how other people feel about the church right now and why. My opinion of the church even changed a little bit because of the things I learned. Doing my project on the abuse case in the Catholic Church helped me keep an open mind and listen to opinions that I might have disagreed with before. Now that I have listened to the perspective of others, I realize that there are many different solutions to the problem, and none of them should be ruled out. I learned a lot from listening to the different solutions people proposed.
Interview Questions MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH I chose to interview these people because they all have different perspectives on the Catholic church. My mom grew up catholic and returned to the church as an adult, my sister converted before my parents, and Patrick is a young member of the church.
Has the scandal affected the way you view the Catholic Church? If so, in what ways?
Yes. I think that ultimately, it is much more telling of the church that they hid the scandals for so long and went to such drastic measures to keep it a secret. I think it is really offensive to a lot of people including myself that the church would rather have kept it a secret than to take the appropriate actions to address the issue.
Yes. It makes me think more negatively about the church.
It does change your perspective a little bit. I grew up on catholicism and to hear the news changed my thoughts on the church and how corrupt it can be, but there isn’t really anything I can do about it…
Yes, it has impacted the trust I put in church leadership and the respect I have for the laity.
Why do you think the dioceses kept the abuse cases a secret for so long? How do you think they could have handled it better?
I think that they were afraid that if it got out it would have only gotten worse for them. It would have been better for the victims, the diocese, and everyone in general if they addressed it by getting the police involved and “getting rid of” the priests and other officials who were abusive.
They didn’t want to have a negative view of them so they didn’t want to tell anyone. I think they could have come out about it and stripped the priests of their position.
I think they kept it a secret because it would affect their image. They could have exposed these people and their crimes and doing something about it instead of covering it up.
I think the abuse is so ingrained in church leadership now that it was natural that they would keep it a secret. I think the only way to handle it better would be full transparency and comprehensive look at church policy.
What do you think the church can do to regain trust from their congregations?
I think that the church needs to do everything they can to hold the culprits responsible for their actions, regardless of the statute of limitations. They also need to be doing routine checks on people and making sure they have clearances. They should be trying their hardest to make churches and other places associated with the diocese a safe place to be.
Strip the priests of their priesthood and allow priests to marry. I feel like they wouldn’t if they weren’t closed off to having a significant other.
They can admit their mistakes to everyone and take blame for what has happened and try to move forward. As time passes, perspective changes and forgiveness can be earned.
Full transparency and a comprehensive rewriting of church policy on all levels. (On how they deal with this, bishops, children, conffetions, etc.) Especially when addressing human sexuality.
Do you think that leaving the church or converting after the scandal is justified?
Yes. I think that a system that has been abusing their power for as long as the catholic diocese has been gives people a reason to leave.
Yes because they may just not want to be part of the community anymore and they could find another branch of christianity to worship.
I wouldn’t blame someone for doing that. Who would want to stand behind someone who would cover up such a drastic situation? However, I would stay catholic because it's all I’ve known…
Yes, because the breach of trust was so severe.
Beginning notes of songs
All for the Best (Song 1)
Do you ever feel two feelings at the same time? When you’re unsure of the answer and the crime
And just avoid the truth
And then become dancers
Or patients of a dentist pulling a tooth Maybe leaving is the best choice