One of the priests who served at my high school and my family’s parish has been accused of abusing a student. He admitted to the incident, and was removed from office and sent to a psychiatric facility. Since then, four other people have come forward claiming that he abused them, too. It would not surprise me if the number of confirmed cases turns out to be higher than the one that Father Crum admitted to. My sister and my friends were creeped out by Father Crum. Among other things, he regularly took altar boys out for pizza and R movies, and there rumors that he bought them beer and showed them pictures of naked women, too. On top of that, pedophilia, ranging from sickos raping infants to people in authority taking advantage of people who aren’t quite of the age of consent, is more common than anyone likes to admit.

Whenever these cases break, everyone wonders why no one came forward at the time. Well, my sister and I kept saying that it was weird how Father Crum went out with the altar boys, but we were junior-high aged girls who were being snotty and disrespectful of a priest and jealous because the altar boys received special privileges. And now, the same people who dismissed us say that the men who are coming forward are pathetic folks bent on destroying a fine priest’s reputation for money. (more…)