Catholic Sexual Abuse Crisis Shows Signs of Fading

[Philothea53]

13-July-2007 – Catholic News Agency
ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=80789

Catholic Sexual Abuse Crisis Shows Signs of Fading
Washington DC, Jul 13, 2007 (CNA).- The Roman Catholic Church in the United States is starting to move out of crisis mode five years after the sex-abuse scandal broke, according to an Associated Press report.

“I think the crisis mode is over, and I think that’s a good thing,” Robert Bennett, a Washington lawyer told the AP. Bennett is a former member of the National Review Board, which was formed by the U.S. bishops in 2002 to deal with the scandal.

While dioceses continue to receive and settle claims of sex abuse by priests, there are signs to support the claim that the crisis is fading.

The AP report notes that number of clergy sex abuse claims received by Catholic bishops and religious orders in the U.S. declined in 2006. This is the second consecutive year of decline. Furthermore, the new claims involve mostly decades-old events.

It also notes that donations to diocesan annual appeals fell slightly as the scandal spread, then jumped 13 percent in 2006, including in Boston, where the scandal first broke.

In addition, a survey conducted in October 2005 found 74 percent of Catholics were either “somewhat” or “very” satisfied with U.S. bishops’ leadership, up from 57 percent in January 2003.

Furthermore, while the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) continues to press for reforms in the Roman Catholic Church, it faces a budget deficit and declining membership. To help stem the declines, it has expanded its lobbying efforts to deal with such issues in other churches as well.

“People had predicted early on the credibility of the bishops would be wounded forever,” Fr. James Heft, director of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California, told the AP. “There is a way in which things move on. In general, I think people are willing to believe there have been positive steps taken, and life moves on to other issues."

Robert George, director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, said U.S. Catholics have generally been able to separate the failures of Church leaders from Church teachings. Some thought that the crisis would lead Catholics to reject the Church, but George notes that didn’t happen.

 

[Dispector]

Thank God. Literally.

 

[MugenOne]

My pop always tells me that if you take Church’s money, God will take His money back in ten fold. By that, he means like you’ll most likely to have accident, family problem, depression, sudden death, etc., stuff that really hurts your pocket and soul. He calls it “fairness” law. You remember the young man who was “abused” by some Boston priest and also the most vocal during the sex scandal, he was found death. The cause of death was unknown. I am pretty sure if you are to follow all the claimants who have received money settlement, they possibly wish they have never touched God’s money. I believe my pop is right.

Sex abuse of a children is wrong and God will surely punish all the wrongdoers. God asks us to forgive. He doesn’t ask us to forgive by taking His money.

 

[Riley259]

13-July-2007 – Catholic News Agency
ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=80789

Catholic Sexual Abuse Crisis Shows Signs of Fading
Washington DC, Jul 13, 2007 (CNA).- The Roman Catholic Church in the United States is starting to move out of crisis mode five years after the sex-abuse scandal broke, according to an Associated Press report.

“I think the crisis mode is over, and I think that’s a good thing,” Robert Bennett, a Washington lawyer told the AP. Bennett is a former member of the National Review Board, which was formed by the U.S. bishops in 2002 to deal with the scandal.

While dioceses continue to receive and settle claims of sex abuse by priests, there are signs to support the claim that the crisis is fading.

The AP report notes that number of clergy sex abuse claims received by Catholic bishops and religious orders in the U.S. declined in 2006. This is the second consecutive year of decline. Furthermore, the new claims involve mostly decades-old events.

It also notes that donations to diocesan annual appeals fell slightly as the scandal spread, then jumped 13 percent in 2006, including in Boston, where the scandal first broke.

In addition, a survey conducted in October 2005 found 74 percent of Catholics were either “somewhat” or “very” satisfied with U.S. bishops’ leadership, up from 57 percent in January 2003.

Furthermore, while the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) continues to press for reforms in the Roman Catholic Church, it faces a budget deficit and declining membership. To help stem the declines, it has expanded its lobbying efforts to deal with such issues in other churches as well.

“People had predicted early on the credibility of the bishops would be wounded forever,” Fr. James Heft, director of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California, told the AP. “There is a way in which things move on. In general, I think people are willing to believe there have been positive steps taken, and life moves on to other issues."

Robert George, director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, said U.S. Catholics have generally been able to separate the failures of Church leaders from Church teachings. Some thought that the crisis would lead Catholics to reject the Church, but George notes that didn’t happen.

I hope it is abating but I just read that the LA diocese is paying out 600 mill.!! This scandal sure does have a long shelf life. I’m convinced it is God’s way of ultimately purifying the Church.

 

[NewUlm1976_2000]

Yes and no. Except for the LA Diocese news, it is slowly fading into history but the needed transparency has not come about to bring back most of the people who left over it. Unless this is done, this has a fair likelihood of this happening again in the future.

The settlements seem to come across as last resort options to many. The only real way to bring trust back is to give the laity enough transparency so when anything goes wrong it goes straight to the local law enforcement agencies and nowhere else.

 

[geezerbob]

Yes and no. Except for the LA Diocese news, it is slowly fading into history but the needed transparency has not come about to bring back most of the people who left over it. Unless this is done, this has a fair likelihood of this happening again in the future.

The settlements seem to come across as last resort options to many. The only real way to bring trust back is to give the laity enough transparency so when anything goes wrong it goes straight to the local law enforcement agencies and nowhere else.

That’s simple enough. Victims should report abuse directly to the police, not to the bishop. Law enforcement will notify the bishop if they make an arrest or need other information.

 

[NewUlm1976_2000]

That’s simple enough. Victims should report abuse directly to the police, not to the bishop. Law enforcement will notify the bishop if they make an arrest or need other information.

I wish it was that easy, many victims are stigmatized by this. Partly because of the inherent respect which comes from an ordained member of the clergy, some of it is trauma from the incident.

Some victims first brought up problems internally hoping the Bishops would take action. Even when the Bishops did find out about it on their end, some still decided to parish jump the offending priests. The proper action, (which the public and laity would have given them credit for) would be to call the property legal authorities.

Even now, some Bishops refuse to do anything in the follow-up and for future protection (Bruskewitz of Lincoln, NE is one glaring example). Only more transparency and a clear showing of forgiveness will help put this into the past. Instead we have seen hubris and denial in many parts of the church, even to this day.

 

[Meggie]

I think that its far from over.
Dioceses and arch dioceses are putting in place laws which are way too strict, dismissing volunteers without notification for hugging kids (even in the sight of an entire parish). Forcing TEENS to have sexual abuse prevention training meant for adult volunteers in order to go on retreats. Canceling youth events because, among other people, they planned to order pizza and the pizza deliver wouldn’t be prevention certified. Forbidding youth groups to leave the dioceses to participate in retreats that don’t match their standards. And many other “cover our butts” horror stories I’ve witnessed firsthand and heard of.

 

[RobDH]

Many journalists, as well as myself, find the timing of the settlement very interesting.

Mary Milliken of Reuters (see page 2 of article) writes…

“Mahony is likely to face more difficult days as Catholics and the media scrutinize his decision to offer the $660 million for 508 victims two days before the first trial was to begin for 12 plaintiffs on Monday.”

and also…

"Mahony has come under intense fire in the last five years for mishandling cases of suspected child molestation by priests, who were shuffled among parishes when parents began to complain instead of being removed.

An Oscar-nominated documentary, “Deliver Us From Evil,” last year highlighted a case in which about an Irish pedophile priest was protected from justice for 25 years by the church in Northern California while Mahony was a top official there."

Steve Lopez writes in the Los Angeles Times
that the top priority of the Arch Dioceses of Los Angeles was to…

“Keep Mahony off the stand. Under oath, he would have been forced to explain exactly what he knew about the scandal and what he did, or didn’t do, in response.”

He goes on to write…

“Roger the Dodger has already admitted — albeit without much detail — that he left five priests in the ministry despite complaints of molestation. And my newspaper has counted 11 other cases in which priests stayed on the job despite parishioners’ concerns about inappropriate behavior with children.”

He quotes Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley describing Mahony’s surrender of documents as…

“giving with one hand and taking away with the other.”

What these reporters are pointing out is that throughout this scandal, the US Church leaders have done nothing but drag their collective feet when it comes to disclosing what really happened behind the closed doors. And remember, the only reason this whole mess came to light was the victims forcing the Church into court.

As for going to the police, these were children for the most part. Many of them DID go to the authority figures that were supposed to protect them. Parents, nuns and priests, and the police. What happened? Many parents admit today that they just couldn’t believe it. And when they did go to the Church leaders? Attempts were made to discredit the children, the parents were lied to (and the priests were shipped of to another parish or dioceses to do it again, and again). And if the police were brought in? Well, where did they go first? To the bishop, who in most cases either suffered denial, misled the parents and police, or in some cases apparently flat out lied.

And while this story may “die out” in the media, it is far from over. Even now, the problem is showing up in other countries. The news carries stories from Ireland, Australia, Latin American countries, from all over the world.

I love the Church, but I have learned to my sadness that I cannot always trust its leaders to do the right thing. I don’t know if I will ever fully trust the US leadership again. And that is very sad.

 

[Biblioassistant]

Why is there no call for Cardinal Mahoney to resign? There was for Cardinal Law and he did. Why is Mahoney not asked to step down?

The LA Times really likes him, I guess.

 

[RobDH]

Why is there no call for Cardinal Mahoney to resign? There was for Cardinal Law and he did. Why is Mahoney not asked to step down?

The LA Times really likes him, I guess.

There has been over the last five years (which is how long this particular episode has been going on). Read the whole story. But he has huge support in the extremely large L.A. Latino community because of his pro-illegal immigrant stances.

 

[RobDH]

Here’s other indications that the problem is still not completely solved with Cardinal Mahoney and others in Church leadership…

U.S. lawyers to grill Mexican cardinal in abuse case

"Cardinal Norberto Rivera faces an August 8 deposition in Mexico City, one of the world’s largest Catholic dioceses, Jeffrey Anderson, the plaintiff’s lawyer, said on Tuesday.

Rivera and Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony are named in a U.S. civil suit filed by Joaquin Aguilar Mendez in Los Angeles. Mendez says a priest named Nicolas Aguilar raped him in Mexico in 1994 when he was 13 years old."

On page 2 of the article…

“Rivera is accused of sending Aguilar to Los Angeles to avoid a scandal after the rape, and Mahony is accused of allowing the priest to flee back to Mexico after a U.S. warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with several cases.”

And further, the two Cardinals can’t seem to get their stories straight…

“In a sworn affidavit, Rivera has said he had used secret church code in a letter to tell Mahony that Father Aguilar was homosexual, but that he had no knowledge of the pedophilia accusations. Mahony denies having ever received such a letter.”

This goes toward showing a system wide problem in that, apparentlly, the Church had a “secret church code” for communicating some of the issues now coming to light. If true, this is extremely damning evidence in my opinion.

Another sign of the seeming denial and arrogance of some Church leaders is found in this…

“Marcelino Hernandez, a Mexican bishop involved in handling abuse cases brought against priests, said the Catholic Church in Mexico has no plan to compensate abuse victims. In an interview published on Tuesday in the Milenio newspaper, he said Mexican priests had groped but not raped victims.”

So it seems that Bishop Hernandez believes that it’s ok because the priests had only “groped but not raped victims”.

 

[manualman]

I’ve been through the training in our parish and have a few things to note:

1. Predators have a very predictable MO. They always seeks positions that where parents place them in a position of inherent trust and authority over kids. And one that presents opportunity to be alone with kids.
2. Predators actually network to share porn and information. For many years, catholic churches were known as a place where you could get a lot of #1 (above). And I’m not talking JUST about the priesthood.
3. Bishops for a lot of years made TWO mistakes. A.) They tended to cover up scandal when possible and B.) They tended to believe that the predators were still good men with a problem that could be treated. Issue A will always be human nature, but issue B has been squashed.
4. (This is MY observation, not discussed in the fairly PC parish program) The Vatican, if not all the US bishops, has realized that seminaries must be on guard against well-intentioned, but sexually damaged young men who see the celibate priesthood as a way to hide from their sexual problems. Recent guidance to seminaries is strong on discernment of sexual disorders and requires that such issues be dealt with BEFORE a young man enroles in seminary. PreVatican2 seminary discernment was in too many cases oblivious of sexuality as an issue and, ironically, post Vatican2 seminary training was dismissive of traditional catholic sexual teaching. Both approaches are a disaster and easily allow passage of wolves in sheeps clothing.

New Ulm, I think you misjudge Lincoln Nebraska. Far from being in denial, this place has undertaken GENUINE measures to prevent this from happening, not just symbolic review boards and politically correct PR mantras. The programs being done in most diocese consist of closing the barn door after the cows have gone. They are looking to PREVENT the cows from getting out. IMO, he deserves kudos, not darts.

 

[RobDH]

New Ulm, I think you misjudge Lincoln Nebraska. Far from being in denial, this place has undertaken GENUINE measures to prevent this from happening, not just symbolic review boards and politically correct PR mantras. The programs being done in most diocese consist of closing the barn door after the cows have gone. They are looking to PREVENT the cows from getting out. IMO, he deserves kudos, not darts.

As someone else who has also taken part in the training programs and who has belonged to one of what you call “symbolic review boards”, I think you may be missing part of NewUlm’s and my concern over Lincoln. The good bishop has refused to participate in the audits and review boards mandated by the USCCB and approved by the Vatican. While the programs done there may very well be “Genuine”, although I think you might take care in implying that somehow others are not unless you know for sure, there is no way to be sure about Lincoln if the bishop won’t allow outside audits and review.