Students at Marsh Chapel for Sunday’s Palm Sunday Mass said their faith has not been compromised by the recent sex abuse scandal surrounding the Catholic Church in Boston.
Although the scandal has drawn much criticism from members of many religions, several students said mistakes have happened in all religions and none are without flaws.
College of Engineering junior Mark Bassotti said he was “shocked” by the scandal, saying he has “always looked up to priests.”
However, Bassotti said, “My faith hasn’t been shaken by it. I don’t really think the whole Church is the problem itself; I think the Church and the foundation of the Church is fine … I think they’re taking care of the crooked people.”
Jessica Johnston, a student at Boston College, said her view of the Catholic Church has not been altered. As she puts it, “everybody makes mistakes.”
“Not that I think this is not something to be punished for, but in every religion some people mess up,” she said.
Johnston also said she does not feel Bernard Cardinal Law should resign, as many Catholics are urging him to do, but said he owes Catholics an explanation of why he let the abuse cases carry on without intervention.
Rev. Paul Helfrich, one of the chaplain’s at Boston University’s Catholic Center Newman House, said the abuse has been addressed in a number of homilies as well as in a three-page letter from Law printed in a special edition issue of the Archdiocese’s newsletter last week.
Helfrich handed out reprinted copies of the letter to students today.
“The demand for more copies was such that there was a reprint,” he said.
Helfrich said a variety of reactions to the sex abuse scandal is expected on a campus of BU’s size and diversity.
He added that students have come to him with questions and have said their faith in the Church hierarchy has been shaken. Their faith in God, however, remains constant, he said.
“The real problem that most students had is how it was handled,” he said.
Stephen Johnson, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said his faith has not been shaken by the scandal, but he thinks the problem needs to be addressed and corrected in order for Catholics to move on.
“I think it’s easy to criticize … but I think that people need to start looking at how to correct it rather than focusing on what happened,” he said.
College of Communication freshman Sarah McGraw said she does not associate herself with any religion but said she was considering joining the Catholic Church. McGraw said the recent sex abuse scandal has made her reconsider this decision.
“It’s really scary that the Church actually conspired to conceal it,” she said. “A place where people go to for moral guidance shouldn’t have done something like that.”
McGraw said the Church has a long way to go, but she thinks the Church is right to encourage parishioners to ask questions about the abuse and talk about their feelings.
CAS junior Phil Paparella said he has not followed the story in the news and it has not affected him too much.
“It does concern me, but it doesn’t take away from the religion or the celebration of this time,” he said.
School of Management senior Carolina Jiminez said she is concerned with the issue and does not agree with how it has been handled. However, she said, “It hasn’t changed my views or affected my coming to church.”
Jiminez said it is good the Church is now treating the problem as a “legal matter” and not trying to handle it alone.
Helfrich said he does not expect church attendance to be lower this Easter than in past years, as he has not seen a significant drop in attendance since the sex abuse scandal gained publicity earlier this year.
