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Sex Scandal's Impact on Priests
Life in Parishes Changes in Subtle but Real Ways
 Listen to Susan Stamberg's report.
The Rev. Brian Joyce.
Photo courtesy Christ the King Parish
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The Rev. Lou Vallone.
Photo courtesy St. Mary of the Mount Parish
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May 9, 2002 -- The Rev. Brian Joyce says he's not acting differently around parishioners these days. But something has clearly changed for Joyce in the wake of the child sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the U.S. Catholic church.
"I don't think I'm behaving differently, but different thoughts are going through my head," the pastor at Christ the King in Pleasant Hill, Calif., tells NPR's Susan Stamberg in an interview on Morning Edition.
As they usually do at first communion, parents come to Joyce asking him to pose with their child for a photo marking the ceremony. "And it seems to me that the pictures in the paper of some of these abusers are first-communion pictures with the youngster," Joyce says. "And so what's going through my head as they're taking my picture is something that would never cross my mind a year ago."
The Rev. Lou Vallone, pastor of St. Mary of the Mount in Pittsburgh, says his "personal interaction" with church members hasn't changed. But the diocese to which his parish belongs implemented new policies within the past decade in response to cases of sexual abuse.
"You would not consider doing overnight retreats unless they were well-chaperoned by laity; you would, for example, not consider hiring high school kids to be your evening receptionists unless there were other people around the rectory," Vallone tells Stamberg.
The Oakland diocese to which Joyce's church belongs has adopted a program called No More Secrets in an effort to make parishioners feel safe and to acknowledge that sexual abuse exists in the church.
Joyce says his parishioners have attended forums to "express and ventilate their upset at the broader church. People are very supportive of our church locally and its local priests and very dismayed and angered and embarrassed at the broader scene."
Vallone says it's important for the church to apologize to the sex abuse victims and their families. "I don't think that we can express our sorrow enough to those who have been harmed by these actions."
Previous NPR Coverage
Listen to a Weekend All Things Considered report on the Oakland diocese "No More Secrets" campaign.
 The Catholic Church and Sex Abuse
Pray the News
Other Resources
• Letters from Father Brian Joyce to Christ the King Parish
• The Diocese of Oakland's 'No More Secrets' campaign (Adobe Acrobat plug-in required)
• Saint Mary of the Mount Parish
• The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
• The Vatican
• U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
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