Let me preface my letter to the editor as did the Rev. Richard Partika in his Nov. 17 "A Priest's View" column ("Media and others are overly focused on sex scandals among some Catholic priests") by saying: This letter is not about the Catholic faith nor any faiths that have seen their spiritual leaders commit crimes against children, teens or vulnerable adults.
Let's not call them scandals. Let's call them what they are: serious, vile crimes against children.
Let's not make excuses. Churches recruited these men and women, trained them, monitored them, assigned them and, as we have seen, released dangerous ones on unsuspecting kids and parents.
Let's not blame the newspapers. If bishops and religious leaders told the truth, there would have been no need for the media.
Let's not blame the lawyers. Why does a victim even have to go to an attorney if the bishops and religious leaders listened to victims and cared for the victims? What about the loved ones of the victims of these criminals who did not survive?
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Let you not speak about the survivors if you did not walk in their shoes and presume what motivates them.
Let the church leaders be noble and tell the truth. That's what Jesus would do.
Steve Theisen
Hudson, Iowa
The writer is the Iowa director of SNAP, or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (snapnetwork.org).
