Bishop Zubik Criticized during Final Listening Session on Abuse

By Jamie Martines
Tribune Review
December 7, 2018

https://triblive.com/local/allegheny/14380287-74/bishop-zubik-criticized-during-final-listening-session-on-abuse?fbclid=IwAR1gVZBu-D4JWcwNM3SRs4JFFyTOHF4bs-QspV87DK0T80IIoQBiAN_uBu8

For healing to take place, a wound must be opened and inspected, according to Bishop David Zubik.

“And I think that happened tonight,” he said Thursday following the fourth and final listening session held by the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Not everyone agreed.

“The bishop is sitting there expressionless and emotionless, and I don’t think he’s listening,” said Christine Saitta of Bethel Park, as she called for him to resign.

The meeting at St. Ferdinand Church in Cranberry Township was preceded by three other sessions held in Aliquippa, Jefferson Hills and Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood over the past week. They were an open forum for members of the Catholic community to share comments, reflections and questions about the Pennsylvania grand jury report on sexual abuse, released in August, directly with Zubik.

Similar listening sessions were held throughout the Greensburg Diocese in recent weeks.

As he did three times before, Zubik sat in a chair in front of the altar, shifting his body to face speakers lined up along the pews on either side of St. Ferdinand Church. Over about three hours, at least 30 people took to the microphone.

Some shared personal stories of abuse at the hands of clergy or other adults working in Catholic churches, schools or other facilities. Others thanked Zubik for his service to the church and urged him to continue supporting victims of abuse, while several criticized the bishop and implored him to resign.

Saitta, the spouse of an abuse survivor, attended the first listening session at St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland as well as the final session Thursday. She didn’t think the listening sessions were going to change anything.

“He needs to step down,” she said.

For some survivors, including those who have experience with sharing their stories publicly, the sessions were another step in the healing process, said Jim Vansickle, an abuse survivor living in Robinson who attended two sessions.

He works as survivor advocacy coordinator for the national organization Stop Child Predator and helps other survivors tell their stories and connect with resources. He said haring his story with other Catholics during the Oakland session was special.

“I think it was more that feeling of being in that community,” Vansickle said.

Zubik did not respond to any questions or comments during the session, except to address attendees briefly before leading a closing prayer.

“I simply ask you one very important favor: That you pray for me,” Zubik said after apologizing for the pain the abuse has caused survivors, families and the faithful.

Zubik, with the help of lay volunteers who facilitated the sessions, will compile a pastoral letter and accompanying action plans in response to the listening sessions. That document will be released to the public by Ash Wednesday in early March, Zubik said.

Details on the victim compensation fund will be released during a press conference next week, Zubik told reporters.

“We really want to be able to help give relief to victims as soon as possible, so they won’t have to necessarily go through long court hearings that could last a long period of time,” Zubik said.

The fund will be administered by the law firm of attorney Kenneth Feinberg, Zubik said. Feinberg’s firm has already been hired to administer funds offered by the Greensburg Diocese and Philadelphia Archdiocese, and has administered similar funds offered by dioceses in New York.

Feinberg also previously administered the 9/11 victims fund and the fund Penn State established to compensate young men who were sexually abused by Jerry Sandusky.

Jamie Martines is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jamie at 724-850-2867, jmartines@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Jamie_Martines.