Hundreds of children were sexually abused, over a period of at least four decades, by about 50 priests and religious leaders in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

The daughter of a professor at the local Roman Catholic University, Maureen Powers, 67, has kept her sexual abuse a secret since she was 12 years old.

Her priest sexually abused her for two years, telling her it was for the purpose of “research.”

Ms. Powers is one of 250 abuse survivors and tipsters who called a hotline set up by the state attorney general, Kathleen G. Kane.

In many cases, their superiors knew about their abuses but didn’t remove the priests or inform law enforcement.

When Powers was in high school, she confided in three priests about her abuse, but none of them reported the abuse.

Instead, one priest tried to take advantage of her sexually, the second priest told her to comfort herself with a daily candy bar and the third told her to see a counselor.

According to a grand jury report, although about a dozen priests have admitted that they have molested children, none of the findings will result in persecution because the statues of limitations on all alleged crimes have expired.

Have these priests truly gotten away with their crimes?

In the Bible, Second Samuel 11, the story of David and Bathsheba is told. David was a man, who similarly to the priests, struggled with sin. David's story tells humans a lot about how God handles sins. During the spring, David, the king of Israel was supposed to be helping fight a war. However, David went against the law at the time and sent another man named Joab to fight the war.

Instead of doing the job his people and God expected from a king, David stayed at home. One evening, David was in bed.

David knew that evening was the time that women would come out to bathe. Men in this time were expected to respect women by staying indoors while they came outside to bathe. David deliberately went outside to walk on the roof of his palace, knowing he would see undressed women. David saw Bathsheba, the wife of a man named Uriah, bathing naked.

David lusted after her, sending his messengers to get her. David slept with her and then finds out he impregnated Bathsheba.

In an effort to cover up his adultery against Bathesheba’s husband, Uriah, David summons Uriah to his home and gets him drunk.

David tries to trick Uriah to stay the night in his home and sleep with Bathsheba. David planned to blame Bathsheba’s pregnancy on Uriah.

However, Uriah was a man of God and he put others before himself. Uriah knew that during this time of war all men were expected to live in tents outside. This was a form of honor and respect to the soldiers who were forced to camp out in the open country while risking their lives fighting in the war. Uriah refused to go spend the night in his home to sleep with his wife when he knew it would dishonor his soldiers. David was furious.

David writes a letter to the man he had put in charge of the war, Joab. He tells Joab to put Uriah in the war and to make sure to put Uriah in a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. David sets Uriah up to be trapped and killed.

When Bathsheba heard that her husband was dead, she spent some time grieving. After the time of mourning was over, David brought Bathsheba to his home and she became his wife and bore him a son.

Everything that David did, had displeased the Lord. From the beginning of this story, David was in the wrong place at the wrong time. David was a king, who should have been fighting a war, but he choose to stay in bed and place himself in a sinful situation.You cannot blame David for being a sexual being, just like all humans. God won’t take away our attractions or desires for sexual intimacy.

However, God gives us the Bible to guide humans to practice self-discipline. God will give us the power to overcome lust if we seek Him.

Often times, many people say that David was the only guilty party in this story. However, Bathsheba was just as guilty as David. If Bathsheba had refused to submit herself to King David, she would probably be killed for disobeying the king.

However, God hopes that Bathsheba and every human will make the choice to reject temporary pleasures associated with sin, rather than choose to reject eternal happiness in the kingdom of heaven with Him. Unfortunately, Powers and the hundreds of other children that were sexually abused by the priests didn’t have a choice. Their innocence and pleasant livelihood were stolen from them.

However, the 50 priests that committed these crimes and the church leaders that covered up the crimes, all had a choice and they choose the sinful way.

1st Corinthians 6:18, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.”

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” David’s sin resulted in death. The Lord punished David by not allowing David’s and Bathsheba’s son to live. After the death of his son, David realized that his son had only gone to heaven to be with the Lord. David knew that if he wanted to ever see his son in heaven, he needed to get right with God. He praised God and God honored Him.

God saw the change in David's heart and blessed David and Bathsheba with another son named Solomon. David continued to honor God for the rest of his life.

The ending of David’s story tells humans that no crime goes unpunished. It may seem like justice hasn’t been served for the hundreds of kids that were sexually abused by the priests. However, 2 Thessalonians 1:6 says, “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you.” Don’t hold onto anger or resentment towards individuals who have sinned against us and others because God will discipline them. It is easy to hate these priests for the crimes they committed. However, as hard as it may seem, God calls all of us to hate the sin that consumes the human mind and to love all our enemies.

David’s story also demonstrates to us God’s love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness towards David and all of us humans, when we sin. David had just finished committing murder, adultery, sexual immorality and lust. Once David asked God for forgiveness, God forgave and blessed him. We should keep the hundreds of victims of these sins in our hearts and prayers.

God also hopes that we will seek Him to give us and the victims, strength to be able to pray for these priests to find real loving relationships with God.