BishopAccountability.org
	Church Must Focus on the Real Victims Burlington Free Press [Vermont] May 20, 2006 http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20060520/OPINION/605200325/1006&theme= Bishop Salvatore Matano acts as though the Catholic Church were the victim in a string of sexual assaults of altar boys by at least one priest in the 1970s. The bishop moved this week to shield the church's property from lawsuits stemming from the alleged abuse, moved to have the judge thrown off the cases for alleged bias, and argued the church was under "unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault" by lawyers for the now-grown altar boys. All this legal outrage was designed to protect the church's assets and discredit those standing up for the alleged victims. But the church has never been the victim in any of these cases. It is the children, now adults struggling with the alleged abuse in their youth, who deserve the bishop's compassion. His outrage should be focused on the crimes of the past. His efforts should focus on doing right by the true victims. Unfortunately, Bishop Matano persists in failing to speak for the church by taking full responsibility for these awful assaults. There was a moment in April when, faced with numerous lawsuits linked to alleged abuse, the church could have acknowledged the crimes in its past and moved righteously into the future. That is what many Vermonters expect of their church -- compassion, confession and redemption. Vermont's Roman Catholic diocese paid one victim $965,000 in a recent settlement of a case that dates back to the late 1970s. That victim, 38-year-old Michael Gay of South Burlington, told the Free Press at the time that the priest who molested him as a boy "took away something very important to me -- my childhood, my faith in God and religion." A review of church letters dating back to the 1960s show that the diocese was aware of the threat posed by former Rev. Edward Paquette, who now lives in Massachusetts. Rather than protect the children being victimized by Paquette, however, the church sought to hide the crimes and avoid any "scandal." That decision was wrong then. It remains wrong now. A church should be a sacred place of trust and safety for all parishioners, particularly children. The Roman Catholic Church in Vermont continues to erode that trust with its on-going fight to hide from its past. There can be no healing here. Like anyone who has sinned, the church ought to admit its past wrongdoing, try to make things right for the victims, and do everything within its power to protect the children of today. The church should earn the trust of its parishioners. The settlement with Gay should have been a first step toward acknowledging wrongdoing and helping victims rebuild their lives. Instead, the fight goes on and the church continues to fail its victims. To learn more To read stories and documents related to these cases, visit www.burlingtonfreepress.com and click on the Vermont Catholic Diocese Coverage prompt.
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