Cincinnati, Ohio, Jul 22, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Catholics in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, who are new to the Church, say their faith has not been deterred by the sexual abuse crisis. Rather, they are enthusiastic about their faith and the future, reported the Cincinnati Catholic Telegraph.
Heidi Miller, who was raised in the Evangelical Church of God, was received into the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil. Miller said her journey to Catholicism was not side-tracked by the abuse crisis.
"The Church has problems that it needs to address, but that didn’t detract me at all from joining,” she told the diocesan paper. “It was a sin committed on the part of a few priests, so we should blame the sinners but not the Church. The Church is a gift to keep us together. We need to look past this and see this as Jesus’ Church."
Pat Haungs was raised by a German Jewish father and a Methodist mother. The mother of nine was active in the Presbyterian Church but decided to leave after a difficult struggle. Several years later, she joined the Catholic Church.