Thomas Roberts Discusses Priest Sexual Abuse

The Advocate On-Air host Thomas Roberts spoke with GQ.com about his personal experience with priest sexual abuse in the Catholic church. In the interview published this week, the former CNN anchor rejects the idea of a connection between abuse and sexuality, and explains why he still considers himself a Catholic.

Roberts, who was sexually abused by the chaplain at his all-boys Catholic high school in Maryland, did not talk about the crime until he was 33, five years after he came out to his family. His abuser, Father Jerome Toohey, pleaded guilty in court, and was defrocked by Pope Benedict.

GQ.com junior editor Andrew Richdale asked Roberts what he would say to Pope Benedict XVI if he had the chance.

"I think I would ask why a man in his position doesn’t feel a greater sense of compassion for the victims…why he doesn’t just be like, The buck stops here. This is unacceptable. People are watching and do care about how [the Church] reacts, so I’d think they’d want to act with more swift justice so they can provide the confidence people need to still want to be Catholic."

Read the interview here.