They were afraid of not being believed and of losing what little they had, said one son, Terrence Sample. “Why wasn’t it the church?”Even as it has pledged to go after predators in its ranks and provide support to those harmed by clergy, the church has done little to identify and reach sexual abuse victims. But the Catholic Church has made almost no effort to track the victims among them. “The church needed those people, and the people needed the church,” Kenney said. They have a reverence for the church, there’s no ands, there’s no buts, there’s no questions: You respect the church, you respect the father,” he said.