John J. Dreese

About the author: John J. Dreese is a Catholic priest in Columbus, Ohio.

The scandal of priest pedophilia has hurt not only the victims of child sexual abuse but the church and priesthood as well. The church should have confronted this problem long ago. Formerly, priests who committed sexual offenses were treated either as sinners or as mentally ill. They were given penance or counseling and then moved to another parish. This was a bad policy; however, treating these priests as criminals now may not help them or their victims to recover.

The constant reporting by the media of the sexual abuse of children and adolescents by priests has become a kind of Chinese water torture for me. Drop, drop, drop, drop, pause . . . then, drop, drop, drop, pause . . . drop, drop. Will...