Aug. 17: Sins of the Fathers

By Sylvia Gurinsky

Of all the churches that are to close, including 14 in South Florida, how many could have been saved if the Catholic Church had only saved itself morally during its sex abuse scandal?

During the 1990s and the early part of this decade, the Catholic Church paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to people who said they were abused by priests - money they could have saved, at least in part, if church leaders had come clean in the first place instead of covering for the accused and often transferring them to other parishes.

Now, the church says that because of the economy, it can't afford to maintain all the congregations. In this community, the 14 will be merged into other churches. But parishoners say, and rightfully so, that it's hard to merge cultures, traditions and special qualities that each congregation has.

More than the current economic crisis, the sins of the Fathers - and their overseers in the Catholic Church - from decades ago are to blame for these shutdowns.