Newsman Thomas Roberts Speaks Out About the Catholic Church Abuse Scandals

Former CNN Headline News anchor Thomas Roberts, currently host of The Advocate’s new television newsmagazine, has bravely spoken out in the past about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a priest at his Catholic high school.

Thomas spoke with http://www.gq.com/ The Wire about the Catholic Church and its handling of the abuse scandals that envelope it. Here are some excerpts:

What would you ask Pope Benedict if you had a chance to sit down with him?
I think I would ask why a man in his position doesn’t feel a greater sense of compassion for the victims…why he doesn’t just be like, The buck stops here. This is unacceptable. People are watching and do care about how [the Church] reacts, so I’d think they’d want to act with more swift justice so they can provide the confidence people need to still want to be Catholic.

One of many excuses the Vatican gave in the case of the priest who molested 200 deaf boys was that the incidents exceeded the church’s statute of limitations. As someone who waited almost 20 years to come forward, how do you feel about this? Were you in denial?
Oh, I was in complete denial. I considered myself to be a strong and intelligent person, and to place yourself in the “victim” category is very hard to do. I thought that I had been able to deal with what life had dealt me. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I’m happy that I was able to confront these demons that had been chasing me for a really long time and extinguish them.

So you came out to your family when you were 27. Later, when you were 33 you began opening up about the abuse. Some people see a casual relationship between abuse and sexuality. Did you worry that people would try and draw those lines?
For me these are two very separate, distinct issues, and I don’t want them to ever be confused. No one ever asks a woman who was abused as a young girl if she grew up and decided she was straight. I had the complete love and support of my family though, and that was most important thing.

You can read the complete interview by clicking on this link.