This past week has been one of the darkest, if not the most bleak, in the history of our Diocese.
It is with great heartbreak that I implemented the provisions of our recently improved "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," whereby we bishops of the United States committed ourselves to a policy which states that any priest involved in the sexual abuse of a minor, past, present or future, is to be removed from all public ministry and may be laicized.
As you may know, I have expressed my sincere conviction that priests guilty of misconduct in the past, who have been treated, restored to ministry and not re-offended -- in accordance with the Christian concepts of conversion, repentance, forgiveness, compassion and restorative justice -- should have the determination of their removal from or restoration to ministry, and the conditions of such restoration reviewed by a misconduct panel, consisting primarily of laity.
However, since that perspective did not prevail in our episcopal discernment, I am committed to implement the policy as adopted by our Conference.
Victims
I know that this is a policy that most victims of sexual abuse by priests, and the majority of our Catholic people and the public in general advocate.
Having met with victims and heard firsthand their pain and devastating trauma, I sincerely appreciate this position, as well as the desire of parents especially to be assured that no one who has sexually abused a child or young person will ever again be allowed to exercise a position of sacred trust in the Church.
I take this opportunity to apologize once again to victims of clergy sexual misconduct and their families for the terrible, and perhaps irreparable, hurt you have endured.
I apologize also to all our Catholic people for the tremendous disgrace brought to our Church by the heinous sin and crime of clergy sexual misconduct, and for the anger, outrage and bitterness generated by the way in which Church authorities like myself have handled these cases of misconduct in the past.
I realize full well that the credibility of bishops has been damaged severely and that the process of healing wounds and of restoring trust will be a slow and painful one.
As a first step, I ask your prayers seeking healing for all victims of clergy sexual misconduct and their families, and for priest offenders who in their humanity have sinned and now been removed from ministry permanently.
Handling abuse
Also, I would like to share my analysis of how this issue was dealt with in our Diocese by my predecessors and myself. I offer this perspective not in any sense as an excuse but only as a descriptive explanation of what occurred in practice.
Let me note initially, without any reservation, that the issue of clergy sexual misconduct was never condoned, ignored or taken lightly in our Diocese, although, as is now painfully evident, it was not always handled correctly.
In the 1950s, '60s and early '70s, the issue of sexual misconduct by priests was looked upon primarily as a spiritual or moral problem. It was viewed as a violation of the Sixth Commandment and as an evidence of the priest having lost his moral or spiritual bearings.
Thus, if an allegation of sexual misconduct was brought against a priest, my predecessors sought to address it immediately. However, since the issue was diagnosed as a moral/spiritual problem, a moral/spiritual remedy was applied. The priest would be sent to a treatment center, which was more a retreat-like setting, where the focus was on getting the priest's spiritual life in order, for example by making a daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament, or by being more attentive to spiritual reading and meditation or to the recitation of the Divine Office and the Rosary.
Unfortunately, little, if any, attention was paid to the emotional and psychological underpinnings of the problem and its ofttimes compulsive or addictive character.
Hence, upon completion of the program, the bishop would restore the priest to ministry, thinking that the problem had been addressed appropriately, but not realizing that there was a definite possibility of re-offense.
New outlook
By the mid-'70s, when I was appointed bishop, the insights of the behavioral sciences had documented the deep-rooted emotional and psychological dysfunction which often underlies the problem of sexual abuse, and the need for extensive psychotherapy in order to treat the behavior effectively.
The residential treatment centers where I sent priests accused of sexual misconduct, then, while having a spiritual component, focused primarily on the psycho-sexual and other behavioral issues which led to the misconduct.
I followed carefully the recommendations of the therapeutic center. If a priest was deemed to be a genuine risk for re-offense, he was not restored to ministry. If restored to ministry, the conditions for the priest's aftercare and the limitations, if any, upon his ministerial assignment were observed.
Policy in 1993
In 1993, in accord with the guidelines developed by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, we formalized and promulgated our diocesan policy for clergy sexual misconduct, which included the establishment of a Diocesan Misconduct Panel, composed primarily of laity not in the employ of the Diocese, to review how allegations of sexual misconduct by clergy were being addressed, and to make recommendations as to whether a priest could be restored to ministry, and, if so, under what conditions.
I must confess with great regret, that for many years, too little attention was given to the plight of the victims of the heinous crime of clergy sexual misconduct.
While Church authorities like myself always knew such behavior was morally wrong and in many instances a crime, we in the Church (as in the wider society) were not aware of the devastating and potential lifelong consequences for victims resulting from this violation of sacred trust.
Understanding the victims
It was only in the mid-'80s that I and others in Church leadership began to appreciate the tremendous long-term damage which victims suffered at the hands of their offenders.
Having reviewed the scientific research and more significantly, having met with victims of clergy sexual misconduct, I have come to understand more fully that such misconduct is not only painful and traumatic at the time of its occurrence, but can lead to lifelong problems with trust, intimacy and sexuality.
Very often victims feel guilty as if they were the ones who did something wrong and thus become filled with shame and self-loathing. Since victims are frequently reluctant to reveal the misconduct to others, they suffer the trauma alone, often filled with rage, anger, hopelessness and despair, much of the time unaware of the source of and reason for these feelings.
When left untreated, these deep wounds can result in low self-esteem, poor interpersonal relationships, substance abuse and suicide. Also, since the perpetrator was a trusted representative of the Church, victims tend to identify his behavior with the Church itself, which not infrequently leads to the loss of faith and even to the rejection of God.
Helping the victims
Since the early 1980s, we as a Diocese have been offering counseling for victims and their family members, and in some cases settlements for the emotional and psychological damages endured.
We also, in each instance, made sure that the victims understood that they were entitled to bring the matter to civil and criminal authorities.
If anyone reading this column is the victim of childhood sexual misconduct by a priest or knows someone who is, I encourage you to bring this matter forward to my office immediately or to the appropriate civil authority. I assure you that compassionate pastoral and spiritual assistance will be available. I appreciate the courage of the victims who have come forward already; hopefully, their example will inspire any others who were victimized to do likewise.
Payments
With regard to the issue of settlements, as was reported recently, the Diocese has entered into settlement arrangements with victims, amounting to $2.3 million over the past 25 years.
There is no question about the fact that the desire to avoid shame and embarrassment for the Church led to structuring these settlements with the type of confidentiality agreements which are standard in our society. In light of diocesan policy in recent years, however, and now in accordance with the Charter, there will be no confidentiality clauses in any settlements with victims in order to eliminate the perception that such a settlement is a "gag order" or part of a cover-up.
Also, it should be noted that all settlements over the past quarter-century have been paid for from our diocesan insurance program, which is totally separate from any monies received for the annual Bishop's Appeal, the Capital Campaign, parish assessments or bequests received by the parishes or Diocese. The premiums for this insurance program -- in which our parishes, schools and social service agencies participate so they can be adequately protected against damages or liability -- have not been increased in the past eight years. Indeed, in the past three years, participants in the program have received rebates. I underscore, therefore, that monies donated to the parish or Diocese itself are used for the stated purposes and have never been utilized to underwrite settlements.
Task Force
Finally, to ensure that this problem of sexual abuse of children by priests or anyone representing the Church, paid or volunteer, is dealt with, I have appointed a Task Force to oversee the implementation of the various mandates contained in the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People."
For example, this Task Force will seek to ensure that counseling, spiritual assistance, support groups and other social services are available to survivors of sexual abuse and their families.
The Task Force will be responsible to develop and publicize standards of ministerial behavior, and appropriate boundaries for clergy and other Church personnel who have contact with children and young people. It is also charged with the task of establishing and implementing programs which provide education and training for children, youth, parents, youth ministers, educators and others, designed to create and maintain safe environments for children and youth.
Those are some of the positive outcomes I envision emerging from these days of egregious scandal for our Church.
God of healing
With regard to what has happened, I sincerely wish I could rectify the harm that has been done, either by undoing the past, or by waving a magic wand that would take away all the hurt and pain.
But, as we all know, no such a facile or quick fix solution is possible. Rather, we must rely upon our God of healing and unconditional love to support and sustain us through this horrible nightmare; and we must rely upon one another as we strive as a people of faith to walk together through this Calvary, confident that with God's grace -- and our own cooperation with such -- we can triumph over the forces of sin and evil, and experience more fully the love, peace and happiness which Jesus has won for us by His own passion, death and resurrection.
May the testing of our faith and spirit which this scandal has generated lead to healing, forgiveness and the renewed sense of the call that we have, as expressed in our diocesan vision statement, "To be God's people, sharing a responsibility to witness God's unconditional love and to bring Christ's healing presence to our world."