BishopAccountability.org

"Zero tolerance" - Vatican requested to investigate failures in US

By Jim B
Catholica (Australia)
January 13, 2016

http://www.catholica.com.au/forum/index.php?id=180734

Yesterday the message below and the two attachments were sent to approximately 700 news media personnel throughout the US 50 states.

(Thanks to Fr Jim Connell for sharing this information).

All of this information is in the public forum so feel free to pass on the info to others, if you wish.

The Catholic bishops in the United States claim a Zero Tolerance policy regarding priests and deacons who have sexually abused a minor or a vulnerable adult. Yet, Church documents show otherwise and potential victims could be at risk now.

This misrepresentation by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is deliberate and systemic in nature, and sexually abusive clergy still could be in ministry.

Thus, the Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee ( http://www.catholicwhistleblowers.com/ ) has requested the Vatican to investigate the bishops’ handling of clergy sexual abuse in the United States.

A copy of this request is attached to this email. Please read our letter to the Vatican and then discuss the issues we raise with the Catholic bishop(s) in your area.

Also attached to this email is a document that contains copies of related correspondence in recent years with USCCB leadership members: Cardinal Francis George, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bishop R. Daniel Conlon, and Francesco Cesareo, Ph.D.

Part of the letetr to the Congregation for bishops reads:


Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee
c/o Reverend James E. Connell, J.C.D.
2462 North Prospect Avenue #204
Milwaukee, WI 53211
connell.james951@gmail.com
414-940-8054
January 4, 2016

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S.
Prefect, Congregation for Bishops
00120 Vatican City State
Europe

Re.: Request that the Congregation for Bishops investigate the behavior the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for possible violations of canons 1389 and 1399 of the Code of Canon Law within the context of clergy sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.

Dear Cardinal Ouellet,
We, members of the Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee, recognize our duty and our right to bring to your attention the request presented above because it involves the good of the Catholic Church and the good of the society at-large.

Summary of our concern
Why would the USCCB establish a commitment to Zero Tolerance and then work against its own commitment? What motivates such behavior?

The USCCB is to advance efforts that further the protection of minors and vulnerable adults from sexual abuse within the Church. The bishops commit to this as it applies to priests and deacons by saying: “Diocesan / eparchial policy is to provide that for even a single act of sexual abuse of a minor – whenever it occurred – which is admitted or established after an appropriate process in accord with canon law, the offending priest or deacon is to be permanently removed from ministry and, if warranted, dismissed from the clerical state.”1 This establishes Zero Tolerance as a USCCB policy.

However, in a deliberate and ongoing way, the USCCB reneges on its commitment. The Conference does not exercise the leadership necessary to assure that known sexually abusive priests and deacons are removed from the community and that the community is warned about the sexually abusive priests and deacons.

Three stunning realities focus our concern and explain the need for an investigation by the Congregation for Bishops into the behavior of the USCCB.

First, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI changed the statute of limitations (prescription, as it is called in the Code of Canon Law) in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) so that in effect cases of sexual abuse of a minor or of a vulnerable adult by a priest or a deacon cannot be barred from a Church court because of a failure to report the abuse within a prescribed time frame. Moreover, canon law provides that such cases can address both the crime of sexual abuse of a minor or of a vulnerable adult as well as the reparation for damages that result from the crime.

Furthermore, at various times state legislators have attempted to bring about changes to their state’s statute of limitations for criminal and civil actions in cases of child sexual abuse. The USCCB and its member bishops should follow the example of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI by working to change the states’ statutes of limitations. It’s about protecting minors and vulnerable adults from sexual abuse, and about protecting their moral right to reparation. More details on this point are presented later in this letter.

Second, the USCCB established a particular law for the dioceses, eparchies, clerical religious institutes, and clerical societies of apostolic life of the Conference with respect to all priests and deacons in the ministry of the Church. But, in reality, an important rule within that particular law dilutes the Church’s process to identify those allegations of sexual abuse of a minor or of a vulnerable adult by a priest or a deacon that are required by universal Church law to be submitted to the CDF. In addition, we also are concerned that the required preliminary investigations could be held open indefinitely as a way to withhold sending cases of clergy sexual abuse to the CDF. As a result, some priests and deacons who ought to be removed from ministry might still be in ministry, thus continuing to be a danger to minors and vulnerable adults. Our argument on this point, including the technical details, is presented later in this letter.

Third, the USCCB engages the services of an independent consulting firm to audit the dioceses and eparchies for compliance with USCCB-established policies and procedures intended to provide a safe environment within the Church. Yet, this audit process is flawed, thus furthering the risk of harm rather than providing protection. For example, the USCCB prevents the auditors from verifying that all sexual abuse cases that should be sent to the CDF actually are sent. Some diocesan bishops or major superiors might not send cases to the CDF and this would go undetected. Another example is that some diocesan bishops forbid the auditors from conducting onsite parish reviews – and they get away with it. The minors and vulnerable adults who need protection are in the parishes, not in the diocesan offices. But, these bishops are able to discard onsite parish audits, a step that would help to provide protection. Additional examples of the flawed audit process are explained later in this letter.

Consequently, we say that the USCCB hinders both the removal of sexually abusive priests and deacons from the community and the warning of the community about sexually abusive priests and deacons. In turn, minors and vulnerable adults are harmed because of the risk that is created. Throughout it all, the USCCB creates scandal.

Our concern is in the present time, right now, and could mean that minors and vulnerable adults are at risk now and into the future. Also, our concern demonstrates a systemic behavior of Church hierarchy.




.


Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.