Growing up in a Catholic household was and still is very dear to me. It meant going to St. Peter Cathedral on Sundays at 11:30 a.m. Mass. It meant going to St. Peter’s Catholic School — now Father Marquette Elementary School — for eight years and listening daily to the teachings of Christ. It meant watching my parents working at the church so that my five brothers and sisters as well as I could get a “better” education.

Each week I remember seeing Dad usher at Mass in his tan corduroy blazer, and I fondly recall watching as my father’s hands, intertwined and gently touching his face in prayer in the back of the church. St. Peter Cathedral, the mother church for the Diocese of Marquette, is where I was baptized, had my first communion, and was confirmed. I attended my sibling’s weddings, and, sadly, I said goodbye to my dad in that same church at his funeral.

Later in life, after moving away from my hometown, I always looked forward to going to Mass with my siblings when I came back for a visit. Going back to St. Peter Cathedral with my brothers and sisters was the closest thing I had to a real family reunion. I could still see Dad ushering and yet at the same time see my siblings in real time, aged, and yet beautiful. It was a bond of family that I loved sharing because we had all gone through the same first steps of life, in the same church and in the same school.

Quite a few years ago, Mom called me and was concerned about my sister Teresa. My sister had quit going to church because of the Catholic abuses that were sprouting up across the United States. She asked me to call her and make sure she was all right and also to see if I could talk her back into going to church.

I told my mom that Teresa was an adult and if that was her way of dealing with the abuses, then I was in no position to talk her out of it. I calmed my mom by saying that I would talk with my sister and see what was up. I called my sister and she was just sickened by the child sexual abuse scandals that were coming up and said she was dealing with them the way she thought best.

She did not want to have her monetary donations or her personal spiritual time spent in a place that represented abuse. I spoke with her some more, as my sister is a very spiritual person, and she said that her spirit in the church has been diminished, but not her spirit in God and Jesus. She basically said that the Catholic Church cannot continue to protect child sex abusers and said until it comes clean she will just pray at home.

My sister is smart. My sister is spiritual. I called my mother back and told her that Teresa was doing what we were taught to do by her and by Dad, as well as by the church. We were taught to stick up and pray for the less fortunate and the unprotected in our society.

Months went by and this sexual abuse scandal was categorized as a limited abuse scandal that was more or less an American Catholic problem. It was not quite swept under the rug, of course, as millions of dollars were paid out in lawsuits by the Roman Catholic Church, but the children who had been molested and mentally hurt in many cases never received the acknowledgement of any kind of apology either.

Now we jump ahead to the last few weeks and the widespread child sexual abuse cases that are no longer an American problem, but a worldwide Catholic Church problem. Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland have now been identified as places where abuses have taken place and similar cover-ups of scandalous misdoings seemed to follow suit. Apologies and acknowledgements have followed from the Vatican, but, alas, again no real credible move to change the secrecy that has protected sexual abusers in the Catholic Church.

In my opinion as a person with a great spiritual side as well as an upbringing in the Catholic Church, the changes that need to be made are simple in statement, but hard in the culture of Catholicism. The changes that need to be made are:

1. Acknowledgement of the problem: The church needs to rip back the veil of secrecy that has surrounded the protection of child molesters and abusers in the Catholic Church. Treat each abuser for what they are; a criminal and make the protection of children the No. 1 priority in all areas of the church. The church needs a zero tolerance policy that is rugged and unbreakable.

2. Openness to be a change agent: Looking to the future, the Catholic Church must learn from its past and embrace changes, such as accepting of women and married men into the priesthood. Now I am not noting that these changes are exclusive to these examples, but it is time to put history into perspective and start building a new way to do things. Be open to new ideas.

3. Build credibility: It will not take one year to build credibility back, but it also did not take one year to break it down, The Catholic Church, by accepting embarrassment now, will eliminate it later on over time. The building of credibility cannot start until steps one and two takes place. Credibility can only be built when someone feels safe and that is the opposite of what is happening now.

I will not go so far as to say that I am knowledgeable about the timeline of events, and who was involved, and to what extent that our Pope Benedict XVI knew about the sexual abuse scandals, but I will say now that he does know, he needs to act. Pope Benedict needs to be the leader of a historic change in the Catholic Church and the overall protection of the vulnerable.

My sister Teresa was right many years ago when she stated that her spirit in the church has been diminished, but not her spirit in God and Jesus. I believe many Catholics feel this same way. Being brought up Catholic made me proud of whom I was and proud of my family and now, we are just waiting to be proud of the Church again.

Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer’s column appears every Thursday.