The Holy Trinity Church in San Jose held a listening session by San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath Tuesday brought on by revelations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Terry McSweeney reports.
The Holy Trinity Church in San Jose held a listening session by San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath Tuesday brought on by revelations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
In the second event of its kind, the bishop encouraged victims and their families to tell their stories.
"There has been a systemic environment of a good old boy fraternity, let’s sweep this under the rug, and move so-and-so around," said Cathy Randazzo whose brother was abused.
Bishop McGrath said this is just phase one of the church’s efforts to deal with the stories of sexual abuse.
"It was very informative for me, painful at times to hear the stories of the victims and families and friends," McGrath said.
He said he also plans to release the names of every priest credibly accused and will conduct an independent examination of the allegations and how they were handled.
"People have lost faith in the institution, I hope they have not lost faith in Jesus the Christ," McGrath said.
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The listening session comes on the same day a Los Angeles-based organization filed a lawsuit accusing bishops across California of a cover up.
Bishop McGrath and the bishops of San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Rosa are named as well as the Archbishop of San Francisco, among others.
"The diocese has a lot to do, the Catholic Church has a lot to do," said Randazzo, "I don’t think they satisfied anybody."
