Category Archives: Diocese of Santa Rosa
What the church documents reveal
By Karen Herzog of the Journal Sentinel
From the link: http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/what-the-church-documents-reveal-b9947711z1-216238291.html
When the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese recently released secret documents linked to how the church dealt with sexual abuse of children by priests, the headlines focused on former Archbishop Timothy Dolan's plans to pay abusers to leave the priesthood and to move $57 million into cemetery funds to protect the money "from any legal claim or liability."
But those aren't the only stories revealed in some 6,000 pages of documents the church had kept confidential for decades. The documents also shed light on issues pedophile priests were dealing with both before and after they abused children. They include letters to priests from archbishops who failed to face the issue of child abuse head on. And they reveal the anguish of the victims and the victims' parents.
The documents, which were released July 1 as part of the church's bankruptcy case, reveal the human side of the scandal.
Some of the priests said they had been sexually abused as children. The victims were often insecure and searching for guidance. And archbishops, in addition to trying to protect the church, felt a pastoral responsibility to priests who were abusers.
Only a few of the accused priests were criminally charged; many denied they did anything wrong. Most left the priesthood with severance pay or were allowed to retire with a pension, health benefits and a place to live. Of the dozen priests included in this story, three are still alive but have been stripped of their priestly ministry: Franklyn Becker, Michael Krejci and Thomas Trepanier, according to archdiocese records.
This story is based on a close review of the pedophile priest files, which include candid letters exchanged between accused priests and archbishops; sexual abuse intake reports; psychological assessments; letters from archbishops to the Vatican seeking counsel or formal action against priests; and letters from victims and their parents.
The pedophile priests
The documents show that many of the priests did not consider themselves criminals, but victims. Some were addicted to alcohol or pornography. They did good work in the church and helped many people. But they also had a dark side they either struggled to control or did not acknowledge.
Many did not express guilt or remorse; they couldn't understand why they were treated severely after they had accepted counseling and done everything the archdiocese asked of them. Some acknowledged conflicted sexual orientation, loneliness, self-loathing, an inability to form healthy adult relationships. Psychologists concluded that at least one priest's emotional development was stunted.
Father Eugene Kreuzer confessed to members of an unidentified parish in an undated letter:
"…There were allegations of my sexual abuse of minors some 30 years ago in a different parish. I express remorse and repent of these actions. However, for the good of the community I have decided that my continued presence at the parish is not helpful. I have been fully cooperative with the restrictions placed upon me. I do not exercise anyministry and am living out my life in a spirit of prayer and penance.This is a strong and loving parish community and I know you will respond to thisannouncement in the manner that is most appropriate, by praying for all those involved…."
Father Andrew Doyle sought a financial settlement in a letter to then-Archbishop Rembert Weakland:
" …you had indicated that you would grant me an unspecified amount of money as a severance. Because I have regular bills and a house payment, I ask that if it becomes necessary for a release from my orders, at that time you would consider an amount of $30,000 … I have tried to cooperate with the Archdiocese…I regret any pain I have caused you; I also have been in much myself."
A letter from then-Archbishop Dolan to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the Vatican offered his impressions of Father Franklyn Becker, who Dolan said refused to voluntarily give up his ministry rights as a sign of repentance:
"Father Becker has admitted that a number of these acts of sexual assault occurred… While he attempts to present a defense based on cooperation and need for sustenance, in interviews with him, there is little display of repentance. His sorrow is not over what effect his immoral and abusive behaviors had on others, so much as it is remorse that he has lost a sense of status…"
Several priests were referred for intensive treatment of alcoholism and psycho-sexual issues. A treatment progress report for Father Michael Krejci concluded, among other things:
"…Normal inhibiting mechanisms, such as guilt or remorse, do not appear to impede Michael's problematic sexual behavior…"
Church officials
Each archbishop had his own way of addressing accused priests.
Archbishop William Cousins wrote terse, formal letters to inform priests they were being transferred, which occurred frequently and quietly during his tenure from 1959 to 1977. Cousins did not document much, reflecting a time when sex abuse accusations against priests were not openly discussed.
Weakland, archbishop from 1977 to 2002, consistently expressed concern for the priests' well-being and told them he was doing what was best for them and the church. He also exchanged letters with victims, acknowledging the bad effects of what had happened and encouraging them to forgive because "forgiveness brings spiritual growth."
Weakland resigned in 2002 amid revelations that he had used church money to pay a $450,000 settlement to a man with whom he had had a sexual relationship years earlier.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, whose tenure from 2002 to 2007 coincided with a change in direction by the Vatican in dealing with sex abuse cases, wrote stern letters to priests about their actions, while expressing concern for their well-being. In his letters to victims, Dolan apologized for their pain and offered them counseling services.
One internal exchange at the archdiocese was especially frank. This excerpt of a 2006 letter from Archdiocese Chancellor Barbara Anne Cusack to Dolan was about Father Michael Benham:
"Although Michael has apparently expressed remorse to you, I have not seen that remorse translate into action. The victim in this case requested a token amount of money as a gesture of recognition of the harm he had caused; Michael has consistently and adamantly refused to do so…This was not a one-time incident of indiscretion.
"There have to be consequences to actions. I do not doubt that an all-merciful God has forgiven Michael but an all-just God will also probably require some purgation for these actions…Michael's life of solitude is made possible because we are paying his subsidy and could be doing so for the next 10 years until he is eligible for pension…I am not sure how we can justify this as 'good stewardship' of the resources people have entrusted to us… How do I honestly look a victim-survivor in the face in mediation and say we are acting consistently with Pope John Paul II's statement that 'there is no place in the priesthood for those who would harm a child?'"
A letter Dolan wrote in December 2002 to parishioners at an unspecified church about Father Thomas Trepanier acknowledged the need for accountability.
"We forgive those priests who have been guilty of this crime and sin, once they admit it — as most do, painfully and admirably — ask for mercy and repent. We know God forgives them; we must forgive them too; and I hope they can forgive themselves.
"Forgiveness, however, does not eliminate the need for those accused to take responsibility, to be held accountable for their behavior."
One month before Dolan wrote to parishioners about forgiveness for Trepanier, he wrote to Trepanier:
"…While we await clearer resolution from the Holy See and the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, I just wanted you to know that I have not forgotten about you, and that you have my love, concern, and prayerful solidarity…"
Dolan added a handwritten note in the margin: "Thanks for the green tea! I'll be in touch soon."
Seven years earlier, in 1995, a letter from Weakland to Father Eldred Lesniewski reflected a much different tone:
"…Every time you appear in public this way at the altar, Eldred, you risk stirring up people who have brought allegations. The network of such victims is enormous and very aggressive. You risk much unfortunate bad publicity against yourself, the priesthood and the Diocese…"
They were altar boys. Kids in need of a friend or a counselor. Boys and girls who for whatever reason caught the eye of the priest at school or in church. Perhaps the priest initially made them feel special with gifts or extra attention — a sleepover or a vacation on a Caribbean cruise. One priest invited boys to go up north on a camping trip in a hearse.
A man who said he was molested as a boy by Father Lawrence Murphy at St. John's School for the Deaf finally confronted the priest decades later in a letter copied to Archbishop Weakland and Pope John Paul II:.
"…I cannot keep our secret about your life as a terrible molester at our school…You made us hate the Catholic church because we couldn't understand how you could be such a hypocrite of a priest who taught us about God while you were the secret molester…
"I would lie awake every night shaking in fear that this would be a night you would touch me …Jesus on the cross on the wall saw you coming every night to molest us. He must have been shocked and grieved every time. I hope he cried like we did, because we were innocent children… The depth of your destruction is like a deep, dark, bottomless pit that has no end…The very least you could do is be sorry, but you aren't…
"God lets no one into heaven who is not deeply, truly, and shamefully sorry for his sins — in your case, atrocities…My shame and my dirty secret are back where they belong, with you, their creator."
The mother of one of Father Franklyn Becker's victims wrote to Weakland in 1994, after accusations about pedophile priests began being reported by newspapers. Her son was abused by Becker at the Holy Family parish in Whitefish Bay in the 1970s, she said.
"As I later found out, this priest had a record in his previous parish and after leaving Whitefish Bay, continued on his merry way in parish after parish, both here and out of state….
"At the time that his offense against my son occurred, I was (redacted) very vulnerable and very committed to seeing that my children be educated in Catholic schools. That's how he came to know my sons; we took him into our hearts and into our family…
"At no time did it ever occur to me to sue the Archdiocese or the priest… Money could never heal the scars left by one priest's indiscretion. However, Archbishop Weakland, don't for a minute smugly think that the only cases of clergy abuse out there are the ones that sue/or run to the media. All I really wanted over the past years was an acknowledgment by you and the Archdiocese that this problem existed and the seriousness of it….
"In addition to a deep sense of guilt for allowing, or even encouraging this to happen to my son some years ago, I have in the past few years experienced a loss of faith, an indifference to the church I was brought up in and now a real bitterness that this particular priest had been 'rewarded' with early retirement for a lifetime of botched assignments due to his fondness for the altar boys."
Father George Nuedling gained sympathy from in-the-dark parishioners one day for an injury he sustained after molesting a victim, according to this letter the victim wrote to the archdiocese:
"…I fought as hard as I could for what seemed an eternity, and fortunately when he lost his grip on me I was able to run away. He tried to give chase but must have pulled something in his calf or hamstring area and fell to the ground (Jesus must have been with me).
"The next day in church it just galled me to hear other parishioners express their concern over Father Nuedling's 'bad limp' and how it must have hurt…I just wonder how many other little boys this evil man harmed?"
Father George Etzel sent a Christmas card in 1992 to a victim, who by then was an adult. "I'm sad and sorry, and I wonder why," he wrote.
The victim responded: "Thank you for the card and thoughts at Christmas… By the tone of your note…I see that you are also reflecting on your past life…and you know exactly what I am talking about.As I stated earlier, it is a time for forgiveness and hope. I forgive you for the things you have done to me. I hope you can make peace with your god…"
When it was time for his first confession, a 9-year-old victim thought he could anonymously tell a trusted adult about Father Siegfried Widera. But something stopped him, according to a letter he wrote as an adult on Aug. 1, 2002:
"…As I entered that booth, I was determined to end this. It was only to my horror that I entered the confessional and heard that voice that could belong to only one man. I can still to this day feel the devastation that entered me that day and the thought that it was a sign from God to keep my mouth shut. I went home that night and cried. A memory that burns in me to this day.
"A sense of relief only came after I found out he was gone. No explanation to the students and none that I can remember hearing about to the adults… I already know that this man was transferred to another church and he did it again. I live with the thought that I could have stopped this if only I had come forward sooner. And now I know that this man is on the run…
"I only wish I believed enough in prayer to pray for any child he comes across."
Less than a year after the letter was written, Widera leaped to his death from a hotel balcony in Mexico as officials closed in to arrest him. He had been on the run for more than a year, and authorities considered him one of the most wanted sex-crime fugitives in the Western Hemisphere.
Posted in Archbishop André Richard, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop Denis Hart, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop Ernest Léger, Archbishop Jerome Hanus, Archbishop Jerome Listecki, Archbishop John J. Myers, Archbishop José Horacio Gomez, Archbishop Jose Gomez, Archbishop Mario Conti, Archbishop of Sydney, Archbishop Peter Gerety, Archbishop Peter Sartain, Archbishop Rembert Weakland, Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Valéry Vienneau, Archbishop William Edward Cousins, Archbishop William Levada, Archdiocese of Albany, Archdiocese of Birmingham, Archdiocese of Boston, Archdiocese of Chicago, Archdiocese of Detroit, Archdiocese of Dublin, Archdiocese of Edinburg, Archdiocese of Grand Rapids, Archdiocese of Kalamazoo, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Archdiocese of Marquette, Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Archdiocese of New York, Archdiocese of Newark, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archdiocese of Pittsburgh, Archdiocese of Saginaw, Archdiocese of St Andrews, Bill Donohue, Bishop Anthony O'Connell, Bishop Bill Wright, Bishop Carl Mengeling, Bishop Christopher Foster, Bishop David Zubik, Bishop Dolan, Bishop Edward Cullen, Bishop Eugene Larocque, Bishop George Leo Thomas, Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, Bishop Henry Kennedy, Bishop Howard Hubbard, Bishop James Garland, Bishop James Hoeppner, Bishop James Kavanagh, Bishop James Murray, Bishop John B McCormack, Bishop John Magee, Bishop John McCormack, Bishop Joseph Cistone, Bishop Joseph Devine, Bishop Joseph Imesch, Bishop Kenneth Povish, Bishop Laurence Glenn, Bishop Leo Clarke, Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes, Bishop Michael Bransfield, Bishop Michael Malone, Bishop Patrick Cooney, Bishop Peter Sartain, Bishop Raymond Lahey, Bishop Richard Malone, Bishop Richard Sklba, Bishop Robert Finn, Bishop Robert Rose, Bishop Seamus Hegarty, Bishop Thomas Curry, Bishop Thomas V. Daily, Bishop Timothy Dolan, Bishop Vincent Leonard, Bishop William Lynn, Bishop Wilton Gregory, Cardinal Adam Maida, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Cardinal Angelo Scola, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, Cardinal Bernard Law, Cardinal Bevilacqua, Cardinal Cushing, Cardinal Dolan, Cardinal Dominik Duka, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Cardinal Franc Rodé, Cardinal Francis George, Cardinal George Pell, Cardinal Humberto Medeiros, Cardinal John Krol, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Cardinal Justin Rigali, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Cardinal Levada, Cardinal Mahony, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Cardinal Patrick O'Malley, Cardinal Pell, Cardinal Peter Turkson, Cardinal Richard Cushing, Cardinal Rigali, Cardinal Roger M Mahony, Cardinal Roger Mahony, Cardinal Sean Brady, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Thomas Winning, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, Cardinal William Levada, Catholic League, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Child Sex Abuse, Clergy Abuse, Clergy Sex Abuse, Congregation for Bishops, Congregation for the Clergy, Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata, Diocese of Antigonish, Diocese of Cloyne, Diocese of Crookston, Diocese of El Paso, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Diocese of Green Bay, Diocese of Joliet, Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Mo, Diocese of Las Cruces, Diocese of Manchester, Diocese of New York, Diocese of Newcastle-Maitland, Diocese of Orange, Diocese of Parramatta, Diocese of Pittsburgh, Diocese of Santa Rosa, Diocese of Scranton, Diocese of Venice, Father Andrew Doyle, Father Eldred Lesniewski, Father Eugene Kreuzer, Father Franklyn William Becker, Father George Etzel, Father George Nuedling, Father Lawrence Murphy, Father Michael Benham, Father Michael Krejci, Father Siegfried Widera, Father Thomas Trepanier, Good Shepherd Laundries, Good Shepherd Sisters, Justice For Magdalenes Campaign, Legion of Christ priest Fr. Maciel, Magdalene Laundries, Magdalene Survivors Together, Manchester Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, Papal Nuncio, Pope Benedict, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, Pope John Paul II, Pope Paul VI, Priest Child Sex Abuse, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse, Roman Curia, St Thomas Moore Parish Durham NH, St Thomas More, St Thomas More Durham NH, St Thomas More Parish, Uncategorized, Vatican, William A Donohue
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The Catholic church should be outlawed forthwith
JohnB on outlawing the Catholic church today
From the link: http://www.molestedcatholics.com/
After all my anger at the crimes and the harm done to society by the Catholic cover up is the need to understand how the healing journey can go and how it can help straighten a part of your life – it helps to regain a part of your truth and to show the depth of the damage and the harm caused by the actions of Catholics in their attempts to cover up the crimes of their fellow Catholics and their clergy.
Talking whilst driving with my son today and I began to relate to him some details about a foot injury I had as a child. He had come home and shown me a blister on his foot; I told him he had not spent enough time in bare feet – that was the prompt, my topic could be my right foot or how long/harmful/life distorting the repression of the day to day Catholic cover up are – its part of the healing journey and a son who smiled today when he listened to me about this – its the story of how I had to cover up the injury even though I had to have ongoing medical attention and purpose made boots it was always done in the name of something else – my injured foot which had left me with a distinct limp because I walked with my foot turned in as it had been injured seriously when the car door was repeatedly slammed on my foot on the day the priest raped me at a little church in the beautiful hills of Central Victoria – its about how every Catholic knew what the cause was and every Catholic knew I was not permitted to speak about it – they were able to assist me with my pigeon toed-ness but they were not able to help me with my injured foot due to being slammed in the lock of the car door as that was a lie that would send me to hell – that's why other kids parents were permitted to beat you if they heard you speak about it being what it in fact was. This was a conscious campaign by every catholic in that town, nuns and priests, knights of the Southern Cross, bishops, the local Catholic Policeman, the Editor of the local newspaper included – they all knew and participated – that to me is what the cover up was and the to me is what the cover up is today – that is what Catholic parishes across the world participate in still today – that is the Catholic cover up in action. It is bigger and stronger than just the Catholic hierarchy because so many have built their careers and their fortunes on.
The part skepticism plays in helping to clarify those truths and facts of your life – you realize that your own brothers and sisters were blackmailed in the same way over this and over dozens of other crimes that had occurred and were covered up – there was a regular murmurous uproar as another instances of sexual abuse was gossiped and whispered about and some kid bullied into fear of their life until the rules of secrecy were instilled (rather this repression was the enforcement of denial into the entire catholic population.
How deep is that repression?
How clarifying it is to me as a person. Reason and memory fit as another part of the jig-saw each of us who experienced this repression which was deployed on to all Catholic children. This was the cruelest and most psychologically damaging process that a human being could be put through- the entire religion and its entire congregation believed fervently that the were the leading light of Christianity – they led the world in morality, justice, humanity, compassion, leadership, ethics, community,salvation, redemption whilst they practiced the ways of the psychopath through a regime of terror inflicted through the fear of eternal hell, damnation, spiritual death and the very real and very often ostracism they deployed on those in the community the wished to bring into line.
Catholics were and remain efficient at that form of repression, they are persistent and ruthless as they are religiously sanctioned by the bishops, priest and nuns (each of whom backed up the story of the priest – this sealed the fate of any victim child of any form of torture who attempted to break out from it.
Those who survived that became good Catholics and continued with this genocidal war against their own children to ensure they would be as psychologically harmed as their parents – it became a self replicating child repressing monster that enshrined its rites to continue with these atrocious abuses of the rights of a human child. The Catholic church is riven with this thinking and behavior, it is endemic in its persistence within the entire life of a Catholic it is endemic in all those religions which followed the same course and who between them have polluted our society to the point where the blatant sexual abuse of more than 30 million people alive today must be held in repression by the believers in the Catholic religion.
If society does not turn away from the path of the Catholic church and if it does not freeze its assets, its businesses then the vast majority of the real crime in our society will never be addressed and the world will never have had a real chance to raise our children in a peaceful, loving and truthful environment. Lets make 2011 the year we all come together to unite in the single cause of demanding our government ceases to trade with and Catholic or religious entity until democracy is restored in our country.
There is no precedent that permits a sector of society to enact genocide on its followers on the basis of religion. That is what we have today and what we have today is insidious and at the core of the ability of society to progress in the areas of human rights, dignity, respect, individuality, freedom of expression of thought and the freedom of speech.
While ever the Catholic church continues to exist and to be able to function as an organized religion it will be in the process of enacting the genocidal practices of the religion against some portion of society and it will continue to enable wars just as any organized religion can and repeatedly to the detriment of society does. The Catholic church is our most obvious example. We can either help the Catholic church to prevail or we can help our children to prevail. For every person on the planet the real choice they have to make is whether they will support the Catholic church or will they support the children.
2011 must be the year when those of us across the world who have an understanding of this and for us to collectively demand our governments brings it to a halt and never permits it to occur again. That is a part of their moral obligation to society. Any politician who today stands in support of the Catholic church should be collectively condemned through our united and collective voices.
Make 2011 the year when you connect up with a proactive survivor who speaks clearly and directly about the needs and the means of providing the safety and the protection our children and our society need.
The Catholic church and those who follow it today need to stand back and permit reason and justice to prevail, to permit each and every person within the boundaries of their country to live with the legitimate right to live in a free and democratic country free of repression and child abuse.
The Catholic church stands condemned as a psychopathic pariah and must be rejected in all forms wherever it is not regulated and policed.
Join with us and support us in our demand to governments across the world that the repression and actions of genocide carried out by Catholics and the Catholic church must cease immediately.
Posted in Archbishop André Richard, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop Denis Hart, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop Ernest Léger, Archbishop Jerome Hanus, Archbishop Jerome Listecki, Archbishop John J. Myers, Archbishop José Horacio Gomez, Archbishop Jose Gomez, Archbishop Mario Conti, Archbishop of Sydney, Archbishop Peter Gerety, Archbishop Peter Sartain, Archbishop Rembert Weakland, Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Valéry Vienneau, Archbishop William Edward Cousins, Archbishop William Levada, Archdiocese of Albany, Archdiocese of Birmingham, Archdiocese of Boston, Archdiocese of Chicago, Archdiocese of Detroit, Archdiocese of Dublin, Archdiocese of Edinburg, Archdiocese of Grand Rapids, Archdiocese of Kalamazoo, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Archdiocese of Marquette, Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Archdiocese of New York, Archdiocese of Newark, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archdiocese of Pittsburgh, Archdiocese of Saginaw, Archdiocese of St Andrews, Armidale diocese, Bill Donohue, Bishop Anthony O'Connell, Bishop Bill Wright, Bishop Carl Mengeling, Bishop Christopher Foster, Bishop David Zubik, Bishop Dolan, Bishop Edward Cullen, Bishop Eugene Larocque, Bishop George Leo Thomas, Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, Bishop Henry Kennedy, Bishop Howard Hubbard, Bishop James Garland, Bishop James Hoeppner, Bishop James Kavanagh, Bishop James Murray, Bishop John B McCormack, Bishop John Magee, Bishop John McCormack, Bishop Joseph Cistone, Bishop Joseph Devine, Bishop Joseph Imesch, Bishop Kenneth Povish, Bishop Laurence Glenn, Bishop Leo Clarke, Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes, Bishop Michael Bransfield, Bishop Michael Malone, Bishop Patrick Cooney, Bishop Peter Sartain, Bishop Raymond Lahey, Bishop Richard Malone, Bishop Richard Sklba, Bishop Robert Finn, Bishop Robert Rose, Bishop Seamus Hegarty, Bishop Thomas Curry, Bishop Thomas V. Daily, Bishop Timothy Dolan, Bishop Vincent Leonard, Bishop William Lynn, Bishop Wilton Gregory, Brenden Smyth, Cardinal Adam Maida, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Cardinal Angelo Scola, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, Cardinal Bernard Law, Cardinal Bevilacqua, Cardinal Cushing, Cardinal Dolan, Cardinal Dominik Duka, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Cardinal Franc Rodé, Cardinal Francis George, Cardinal George Pell, Cardinal Humberto Medeiros, Cardinal John Krol, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Cardinal Justin Rigali, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Cardinal Levada, Cardinal Mahony, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Cardinal Patrick O'Malley, Cardinal Pell, Cardinal Peter Turkson, Cardinal Richard Cushing, Cardinal Rigali, Cardinal Roger M Mahony, Cardinal Roger Mahony, Cardinal Sean Brady, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Thomas Winning, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, Cardinal William Levada, Catholic League, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Child Sex Abuse, Clergy Abuse, Clergy Sex Abuse, Congregation for Bishops, Congregation for the Clergy, Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata, Diocese of Antigonish, Diocese of Cloyne, Diocese of Crookston, Diocese of El Paso, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Diocese of Green Bay, Diocese of Joliet, Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Mo, Diocese of Las Cruces, Diocese of Manchester, Diocese of New York, Diocese of Newcastle-Maitland, Diocese of Orange, Diocese of Parramatta, Diocese of Pittsburgh, Diocese of Santa Rosa, Diocese of Scranton, Diocese of Venice, Father Bernard Shero, Father Bill Carney, Father Brenden Smyth, Father Brian Spillane, Father Camille Léger, Father Charles Engelhardt, Father Daniel Aerts, Father Donald Musinski, Father Edward Avery, Father Lawrence Murphy, Father Michael Fugee, Father Stanley Gana, Father William Brennan, Fr Charles Leonard Connor, Fr George Bredemann, Fr Thomas Smolich, Good Shepherd Laundries, Good Shepherd Sisters, Justice For Magdalenes Campaign, Legion of Christ priest Fr. Maciel, Magdalene Laundries, Magdalene Survivors Together, Manchester Diocese, Manchester Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, Manchester NH Diocese, Nun Abuse, Nuns Abuse, Papal Nuncio, Pedophile Priest Charles Leonard Connor, Pedophile Priest Francis Lundy, Pedophile Priest Tom Brennan, Pedophile Priests, Perverted Priests, Pope Benedict, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, Pope John Paul II, Pope Paul VI, Priest Child Sex Abuse, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse, Sister Alphonso, Sisters of Mercy, St John's School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, St Thomas Moore Parish Durham NH, St Thomas More, St Thomas More Durham NH, St Thomas More Parish, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Uncategorized, Vatican, William A Donohue
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The Church's Errant Shepherds
Op-Ed Columnist
By FRANK BRUNI Published: July 6, 2013
BOSTON, Philadelphia, Los Angeles. The archdioceses change but the overarching story line doesn't, and last week Milwaukee had a turn in the spotlight, with the release of roughly 6,000 pages of records detailing decades of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests there, a sweeping, searing encyclopedia of crime and insufficient punishment.
But the words I keep marveling at aren't from that wretched trove. They're from an open letter that Jerome Listecki, the archbishop of Milwaukee, wrote to Catholics just before the documents came out.
"Prepare to be shocked," he said.
What a quaint warning, and what a clueless one.
Quaint because at this grim point in 2013, a quarter-century since child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church first captured serious public attention, few if any Catholics are still surprised by a priest's predations.
Clueless because Listecki was referring to the rapes and molestations themselves, not to what has ultimately eroded many Catholics' faith and what continues to be even more galling than the evil that a man — any man, including one in a cassock or collar — can do. I mean the evil that an entire institution can do, though it supposedly dedicates itself to good.
I mean the way that a religious organization can behave almost precisely as a corporation does, with fudged words, twisted logic and a transcendent instinct for self-protection that frequently trump the principled handling of a specific grievance or a particular victim.
The Milwaukee documents underscore this, especially in the person of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, now the archbishop of New York, previously the archbishop of Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009 and thus one of the characters in the story that the documents tell. Last week's headlines rightly focused on his part, because he typifies the slippery ways of too many Catholic leaders.
The documents show that in 2007, as the Milwaukee archdiocese grappled with sex-abuse lawsuits and seemingly pondered bankruptcy, Dolan sought and got permission from the Vatican to transfer $57 million into a trust for Catholic cemetery maintenance, where it might be better protected, as he wrote, "from any legal claim and liability."
Several church officials have said that the money had been previously flagged for cemetery care, and that Dolan was merely formalizing that.
But even if that's so, his letter contradicts his strenuous insistence before its emergence that he never sought to shield church funds. He did precisely that, no matter the nuances of the motivation.
He's expert at drafting and dwelling in gray areas. Back in Milwaukee he selectively released the names of sexually abusive priests in the archdiocese, declining to identify those affiliated with, and answerable to, particular religious orders — Jesuits, say, or Franciscans. He said that he was bound by canon law to take that exact approach.
But bishops elsewhere took a different one, identifying priests from orders, and in a 2010 article on Dolan in The Times, Serge F. Kovaleski wrote that a half-dozen experts on canon law said that it did not specifically address the situation that Dolan claimed it did.
Dolan has quibbled disingenuously over whether the $20,000 given to each abusive priest in Milwaukee who agreed to be defrocked can be characterized as a payoff, and he has blasted the main national group representing victims of priests as having "no credibility whatsoever." Some of the group's members have surely engaged in crude, provocative tactics, but let's have a reality check: the group exists because of widespread crimes and a persistent cover-up in the church, because child after child was raped and priest after priest evaded accountability. I'm not sure there's any ceiling on the patience that Dolan and other church leaders should be expected to muster, especially because they hold themselves up as models and messengers of love, charity and integrity.
That's the thing. That's what church leaders and church defenders who routinely question the amount of attention lavished on the church's child sexual abuse crisis still don't fully get.
Yes, as they point out, there are molesters in all walks of life. Yes, we can't say with certainty that the priesthood harbors a disproportionate number of them.
But over the last few decades we've watched an organization that claims a special moral authority in the world pursue many of the same legal and public-relations strategies — shuttling around money, looking for loopholes, tarring accusers, massaging the truth — that are employed by organizations devoted to nothing more than the bottom line.
In San Diego, diocesan leaders who filed for bankruptcy were rebuked by a judge for misrepresenting the local church's financial situation to parishioners being asked to help pay for sex-abuse settlements.
In St. Louis church leaders claimed not to be liable for an abusive priest because while he had gotten to know a victim on church property, the abuse itself happened elsewhere.
In Kansas City, Mo., Rebecca Randles, a lawyer who has represented abuse victims, says that the church floods the courtroom with attorneys who in turn drown her in paperwork. In one case, she recently told me, "the motion-to-dismiss pile is higher than my head — I'm 5-foot-4."
Also in Kansas City, Bishop Robert Finn still inhabits his post as the head of the diocese despite his conviction last September for failing to report a priest suspected of child sexual abuse to the police. This is how the church is in fact unlike a corporation. It coddles its own at the expense of its image.
As for Dolan, he is by many accounts and appearances one of the good guys, or at least one of the better ones. He has often demonstrated a necessary vigor in ridding the priesthood of abusers. He has given many victims a voice.
But look at the language in this 2005 letter he wrote to the Vatican, which was among the documents released last week. Arguing for the speedier dismissal of an abusive priest, he noted, in cool legalese, "The liability for the archdiocese is great as is the potential for scandal if it appears that no definitive action has been taken."
His attention to appearances, his focus on liability: he could be steering an oil company through a spill, a pharmaceutical giant through a drug recall.
As for "the potential for scandal," that's as poignantly optimistic a line as Listecki's assumption that the newly released Milwaukee documents would shock Catholics. By 2005 the scandal that Dolan mentions wasn't looming but already full blown, and by last week the only shocker left was that some Catholic leaders don't grasp its greatest component: their evasions and machinations.
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A version of this op-ed appeared in print on July 7, 2013, on page SR3 of the New York edition with the headline: The Church's Errant Shepherds.
Posted in Archbishop Jerome Listecki, Archdiocese of Albany, Archdiocese of Birmingham, Archdiocese of Boston, Archdiocese of Chicago, Archdiocese of Detroit, Archdiocese of Dublin, Archdiocese of Edinburg, Archdiocese of Grand Rapids, Archdiocese of Kalamazoo, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Archdiocese of Marquette, Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Archdiocese of New York, Archdiocese of Newark, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archdiocese of Pittsburgh, Archdiocese of Saginaw, Archdiocese of St Andrews, Bill Donohue, Bishop Anthony O'Connell, Bishop Bill Wright, Bishop Carl Mengeling, Bishop Christopher Foster, Bishop David Zubik, Bishop Edward Cullen, Bishop Eugene Larocque, Bishop George Leo Thomas, Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, Bishop Henry Kennedy, Bishop Howard Hubbard, Bishop James Garland, Bishop James Hoeppner, Bishop James Kavanagh, Bishop James Murray, Bishop John B McCormack, Bishop John Magee, Bishop John McCormack, Bishop Joseph Cistone, Bishop Joseph Devine, Bishop Joseph Imesch, Bishop Kenneth Povish, Bishop Laurence Glenn, Bishop Leo Clarke, Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes, Bishop Michael Bransfield, Bishop Michael Malone, Bishop Patrick Cooney, Bishop Peter Sartain, Bishop Raymond Lahey, Bishop Richard Malone, Bishop Richard Sklba, Bishop Robert Finn, Bishop Robert Rose, Bishop Seamus Hegarty, Bishop Thomas Curry, Bishop Thomas V. Daily, Bishop Vincent Leonard, Bishop William Lynn, Bishop Wilton Gregory, Cardinal Adam Maida, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Cardinal Angelo Scola, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, Cardinal Bernard Law, Cardinal Dominik Duka, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Cardinal Franc Rodé, Cardinal Francis George, Cardinal George Pell, Cardinal Humberto Medeiros, Cardinal John Krol, Cardinal Justin Rigali, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Cardinal Patrick O'Malley, Cardinal Peter Turkson, Cardinal Richard Cushing, Cardinal Roger Mahony, Cardinal Sean Brady, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Thomas Winning, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Cardinal William Levada, Catholic League, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Child Sex Abuse, Clergy Abuse, Clergy Sex Abuse, Congregation for Bishops, Congregation for the Clergy, Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Diocese of Antigonish, Diocese of Cloyne, Diocese of Crookston, Diocese of El Paso, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Diocese of Green Bay, Diocese of Joliet, Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Mo, Diocese of Las Cruces, Diocese of Manchester, Diocese of New York, Diocese of Newcastle-Maitland, Diocese of Orange, Diocese of Parramatta, Diocese of Pittsburgh, Diocese of Santa Rosa, Diocese of Scranton, Diocese of Venice, Pope Benedict, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, Pope John Paul II, Pope Paul VI, Priest Child Sex Abuse, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Uncategorized, Vatican, William A Donohue
Tags: Archbishop Jerome Listecki, Archdiocese of Albany, Archdiocese of Boston, Archdiocese of Chicago, Archdiocese of Detroit, Archdiocese of Grand Rapids, Archdiocese of Hartford, Archdiocese of Kalamazoo, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Archdiocese of Louisville, Archdiocese of Marquette, Archdiocese of Miami, Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Archdiocese of Moncton, Archdiocese of New York, Archdiocese of Newark, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archdiocese of Pittsburgh, Archdiocese of Portland, Archdiocese of Saginaw, Archdiocese of San Francisco, Archdiocese of Seattle, Archdiocese of St. Louis, Bill Donohue, Bill Donohue. William A Donohue. William Donohue. Catholic League, Bishop Robert Finn, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, Cardinal Bernard Law, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Cardinal Humberto Madeiros, Cardinal Justin Rigali, Cardinal Roger Mahony, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Cardinal William Leveda, Catholic League, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, child abuse, child molestation, child rape, child sex abuse, clergy abuse, crimes against children, Frank Bruni, priest abuse, priest sex abuse, religion, roman catholic church, roman catholic clergy, roman catholics, The Holy See, The Vatican, William A Donohue
Diocese apologizes for priest remarks
April 18, 2002|By David Heinzmann, Tribune staff reporter.
From the link: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-04-18/news/0204180054_1_santa-rosa-diocese-diocese-spokeswoman-victims-of-sexual-abuse
Catholic Diocese of Joliet officials scrambled Wednesday to apologize for the comments of a priest who said he had "no sympathy" for victims of sexual abuse by clergy.
After the Diocese of Santa Rosa, Calif., suspended former Joliet priest Rev. Anthony J. Ross because of an allegation that he sexually abused a teenage boy in Illinois in 1983, his brother, Rev. Richard Ross of Joliet, made inflammatory remarks that were printed in a newspaper Wednesday.
"I don't have much sympathy for people who somehow couldn't stop whatever happened," Richard Ross told the Joliet Herald-News. "I'll take all of these people who were abused, and I'll abuse them with a baseball bat. You can quote me on that."
The Joliet Diocese issued an apology Wednesday afternoon for Ross' statements, which Bishop Joseph Imesch called "absolutely contrary to our beliefs and sensitivities and all that we stand for."
The Santa Rosa Diocese has placed Anthony Ross on administrative leave while the allegation is investigated. Church officials there said they would cooperate with any police investigation. Anthony Ross has been at Santa Rosa since 1993, although he was officially assigned to Joliet until 1997, church officials said. Santa Rosa church officials said Ross requested the relocation. In California, Anthony Ross' assignments included prison ministry and AIDS Ministry Outreach but no parish assignments, church officials said.
No criminal charges have been filed in the case.
Diocese spokeswoman Sister Judith Davies said Wednesday that church officials have not been able to reach Richard Ross, but the comments "will be addressed with Father Ross."
The statement from Imesch's office said that Ross' remarks were out of character with his career of service as a priest.
"All can attest to Father Richard Ross' lifelong excellent reputation for faith-filled and dedicated ministry, especially to those in need. Therefore, we cannot reconcile his statements with his exemplary ministry, nor can we attempt to explain them.
"We can only apologize on behalf of ourselves, the clergy, and all of our parishioners to all victims, their families and to all who are hurt by what was said."
Attempts to reach Richard Ross at St. Bernard's Parish, where he is pastor, were unsuccessful.
Anthony Ross is the fourth priest with a connection to the Joliet Diocese in three weeks to be removed from his duties because of allegations of decades-old sexual misconduct with boys.
In the first week of April the diocese removed Rev. Gary Berthiaume from his position as chaplain at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove after it was revealed that he had been convicted of molesting a child in Michigan 24 years ago. Last week, Rev. Phillip Dedera was removed from his position as a chaplain at Edward Hospital in Naperville and chaplain at St. Patrick's Residence, a Naperville nursing home.
Church officials said they had received a "credible" allegation that Dedera sexually abused a teenager in 1974 while he was serving at St. Andrew Parish in Romeoville. Diocesan officials said they believe the allegation against Dedera is factual and warrants no further investigation. He is receiving counseling.
Monday, the diocese acknowledged that Rev. Carroll Howlin has been suspended from his ministry in rural Kentucky, where he has worked as a missionary since 1977. Howlin is accused by a former seminarian of sexual abuse while he taught at St. Charles of Borromeo Seminary near Romeoville.
FOR THE RECORD – Additional material published April 19, 2002:
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS.
A story in Thursday's Metro section incorrectly reported that Rev. Anthony J. Ross, who has been accused of sexually molesting a teenage boy in 1983 in the diocese of Joliet, had been placed on administrative leave by the diocese of Santa Rosa, Calif. In fact, Ross remains on active duty in prison ministry in California while the Santa Rosa diocese investigates the allegation. The incorrect information was supplied by the diocese of Joliet.
Posted in Child Sex Abuse, Clergy Abuse, Clergy Sex Abuse, Diocese of Joliet, Diocese of Santa Rosa, Priest Child Sex Abuse, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse
Tags: child abuse, child molestation, child rape, child sex abuse, clergy abuse, crimes against children, Diocese of Joliet, Diocese of Santa Rosa, Edward Hospital in Naperville, Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, priest abuse, priest sex abuse, religion, Rev. Anthony J. Ross, Rev. Carroll Howlin, Rev. Gary Berthiaume, Rev. Richard Ross, roman catholic church, roman catholic church sex scandal, roman catholic clergy, roman catholics, Sister Judith Davies, St. Andrew Parish in Romeoville, St. Bernard's Parish, St. Charles of Borromeo Seminary near Romeoville, St. Patrick's Residence in Naperville