Sex abuse: Whole church shouldn’t be smeared

Re: TNT editorial cartoon (8/17).

As a Catholic and longtime subscriber of The News Tribune, I was very disappointed by the tasteless cartoon depicting the Catholic Church as covering up sexual abuse incidents, dressed as a wolf amid a field of sheep.

Pedophilia is a sick and hideous crime, and in recent years it has become public knowledge that over past 70 plus years a very small number of Catholic bishops and priests have covered up these crimes.

But to generalize that the Catholic Church and its hierarchy are guilty of covering up this crime is tarnishing the reputation of the church, and the vast majority of bishops and clergy who are innocent.

In recent years the Seattle Archdiocese and several religious orders have apologized to the victims of these crimes, published the names of the guilty individuals and agreed to monetary settlements.

We Catholics and others need to be mindful not to condemn and judge others who are innocent and who are as angry and disgusted as we are that any of these crimes occurred.