church leaders remained silent as the alleged victims were savaged.

Most of these children were raped and sodomized by someone they and their family believed was Christ's representative on Earth. That's not something an 8-year-old's mind can process; it forever warps a person's sexuality and spirituality.

I saw parishioners reflexively support priests who had molested children by writing glowing letters to bishops and judges, offering them jobs or even raising their bail while cursing the victims, often to their faces.

Shouldn't religious organizations, if they were God-inspired and -driven, reflect higher standards than government, corporations and other groups in society?

"They were breaking God's commandments — even the people who didn't help. They weren't loving their neighbors as themselves."

My soul, for lack of a better term, had lost faith long ago