Letter: Utah’s Catholic Diocese should be investigated
(L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) In this Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010 file photo, Pope Francis, left, talks with Papal Foundation Chairman Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washinghton, D.C., during a meeting with members of the Papal Foundation at the Vatican. On Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury accused Cardinal Wuerl of helping to protect abusive priests when he was Pittsburgh's bishop.
I grew up in Utah, attending parochial school for 11 years. My parish priest was an honorable man whose compassion and kindness were key to processing my brother's death and parents' divorce during elementary school. These good experiences, though, mean nothing in comparison to the systematic evil described in the Pennsylvania grand jury report released last week.
I would like to know when Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes is going to open a grand jury to investigate the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, which encompasses the entire state of Utah, regarding child sex abuse, rape and other violence by priests and cover-up activities by members of the church hierarchy over the past 70-plus years. It is clear from reading the Pennsylvania report that the church moved abuser priests among dioceses and across state lines for decades.
It is impossible to believe that Utah's nearly 300,000 Catholics were spared this horror.
Ashley DiAna Lucas, Washington, D.C.
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