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Editorial The news this week that Father TomSoloy , a former priest at Our Lady of Grace R.C. Church, was arrested and charged with child pornography and for sending indecent e-mails to someone he thought was a 15-year old, sent shockwaves through the West Babylon community. Like many parishioners of that Church, I attended Sunday mass in pain, looking not for an understanding what is not understandable, but of a recognition of my feelings of betrayal and pain. It was not to be so. The incident was referred to from the pulpit only as "the tragedy" that has befallen our community, with no mention of Father Soloy's name, nor of the charges lodged against him. The faithful were lectured about understanding only that this life will give us no answers, and that it is our responsibility to keep the faith, while God will be the final judge of things. Somehow my Church, or a large part of it, still does not get it. As a people, we need affirmation that our outrage is justified. We need to hear the words and know that our feelings are shared by our priests and religious leaders and that we are not alone in this fight for decency and justice. We all recognize the sickness of pedophiles and those who would exploit our children, and we do leave final judgment to God. We understand our obligation to forgive and to remember the good as well as the bad. But looking at the young mother sitting in the pew in front of me, with her two young boys next to her, I wondered whether like me, she needed more. She, like me, needed to know that the victims, as well as the accused, needed understanding and justice.
Carolyn James
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