Pope Francis released a letter Monday condemning sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests and bishops and calling for involvement by laypeople to address the problem.
The pope's letter, which refers to the recently released grand jury report that identified more than 1,000 victims of more than 300 priests in six dioceses in Pennsylvania, does not offer specifics, but denounces clericalism and invites laypeople to join in "uprooting this culture of death."
When visiting Catholic college campuses with their teen-age children, two friends of mine did not limit their fact-finding mission to tours and speeches. They wandered the campuses and asked various students where the chapel was, and, if the students knew, they asked what time Mass was.
The answer was often a blank stare or shaking of the head. My friends discovered what others have noted – many Catholic schools are less Catholic than others.
