The Pennsylvania grand jury report into the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests is unbearable to read.
One priest is accused of raping a 7-year-old girl in the hospital after she had her tonsils removed; another confessed to raping 15 boys as young as 7; a third bound and whipped his victim with leather straps; a fourth forced a 9-year-old boy to give him oral sex and then rinsed his mouth out with holy water to purify him; five sisters in the same family were sexually assaulted.
These monstrous acts, and many more, were committed by some 300 priests against at least 1,000 children in six Pennsylvania dioceses. The real number of abused children, the grand jury added, might be in the thousands.
The crimes were covered up for decades by church authorities, including Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the former bishop of Pittsburg, according to the grand jury report. He’s the third cardinal to be disgraced by sex abuse scandals in the last several months, including Cardinal George Pell, one of the Vatican’s highest officials, ordered to stand trial in Australia on several charges of sexual abuse.
Sex abuse scandals have been rocking the Catholic Church worldwide for decades. In most countries, including Canada, abuse has been uncovered through court proceedings, public inquiries or media investigations. The information has been pried from a church that has placed its reputation above the trauma of helpless victims. This self-serving attitude needs to change.
It’s time for Canadian parishes and dioceses to take the lead in revealing the painful truths buried in their archives.
The courage some Canadian victims have shown in staring down their abusers in criminal court cases or civil suits is remarkable. Through their legal efforts we learned about notorious predators like Rev. Charles Henry Sylvestre, a priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of London who pleaded guilty in 2006 to sexually assaulting 47 girls.
Sylvestre, who died in prison in 2007 at age 84, was moved to 12 different parishes in 20 years. Most of the moves unconscionably came after the Sarnia police informed the diocese in 1962 that three girls accused Sylvestre of sexual abuse.
More often than not, Canadian parishes deal with serious allegations against their priests through quiet financial settlements that can’t be publicly disclosed.
Some of these secrets are being revealed by insurance companies. Increasingly, they’re refusing to pay for the pain caused by predatory priests. The dioceses of Moncton, Bathurst, N.B., Ottawa and Sault Ste. Marie have all gone to court against insurance companies who refuse to cover millions of dollars in payments made to victims abused by priests.
AXA insurance, now owned by Intact Financial Corp., has been waging a decade long legal battle to recover $10 million it paid for settlements to victims sexually abused by priests in the London diocese. It accuses the diocese of hiding pedophile priests by moving them to different parishes or duties for decades, thereby misleading the insurance company and exposing it to greater financial risk.
Documents filed in the civil suit, revealed by the Star, show $15 million in largely secret settlements to 50 people who sued priests with the London diocese for sexual abuse. The settlements are likely the tip of the iceberg. They are only for an eight-year period when insurance coverage is disputed. The London diocese refuses to say how much it has paid in total settlements, how many priests have been accused and how many alleged victims have come forward.
Canada’s 61 Roman Catholic dioceses should come clean. They should search their files and confess to Canadians the alleged sins of their priests. It will help victims heal and assure the public the church will no longer protect predators with collars. It’s the Christian thing to do.
