I have a Catholic friend who lives in an exceptionally bad diocese and who for years has been heaving rocks up mountains to keep his faith strong and his family in church. His resilience has amazed me. Yesterday, after a grand jury report revealed that bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania covered up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests over a period of 70 years, my friend, a tough-guy lawyer, wrote to tell me that he wept in his office. He said, “I am at the end.”

Twelve years ago, so was I. My once-fervent Catholic faith had been eviscerated by my covering the scandal as a journalist. Leaving Catholicism was the spiritual equivalent of a trapped animal gnawing off his own leg off to save its life. It was extraordinarily painful, but if I hadn’t done it, depression would have consumed me and likely annihilated what was left of my Christian faith.

Read more