Self-exiled Oakland priest pleas for church reform

Tim Stier, a Catholic priest in voluntary exile and is a resident of Oakland, has written an opinion piece in the Oakland Tribune.

"When I listen to Catholic bishops of late, I find myself wondering what planet these men inhabit," he writes.

On clerical sex abuse, he writes: "Philadelphia is not atypical; it just happens to have a courageous district attorney (a practicing Catholic no less). The Catholic Church is in a state of collapse due to an institutional culture defined by secrecy, elitism and denial."