Editorial: Church Still Has Not Faced Priest Scandals

Times Record Herald
January 3, 2019

https://www.recordonline.com/opinion/20190103/editorial-church-still-has-not-faced-priest-scandals

Ever since the scandal of priests sexually abusing young boys was exposed in Boston in 2002, the Catholic Church has demonstrated, in big ways and small, despite promises and proclamations from the pope and cardinals worldwide, that it is incapable or unwilling to conduct a thorough reckoning with its behavior.

Big ways: A recent grand jury investigation led by the Pennsylvania attorney general, identified nearly 300 “predator priests” dating back seven decades and accused church leaders of covering up for the abuses by returning priests to duty after treatment or reassigning them.

Small: The Archdiocese of New York told a California university that a Middletown priest had never been accused of sexual abuse of a minor and was fit to serve as a priest, even though it had paid compensation in one sexual abuse case and reopened a 15-year-old investigation into other allegations of sexual abuse against him.

The latter involves the Rev. Donald G. Timone, of the Church of St. Joseph on Cottage Street. He has been a visiting priest at John Paul the Great University in Escondido, Calif., for several years. He celebrated Mass, heard confessions, taught a class on Catholic spirituality. He was supposed to teach another class this winter.

That’s not happening, not since the university learned of the archdiocese investigation in The New York Times. The church’s inability to deal forthrightly with the issue in this case came in the form of a letter from the archdiocese’s director of priest personnel that Timone presented last month to the university. The letter vouched for Timone’s character and for his qualification “to serve in an effective and suitable manner as a priest.”

It also said “without qualification” that Timone had “never been accused of any act of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct involving a minor.”

Asked how such a letter could be written given Timone’s current circumstances, Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the archdiocese, instead replied that from now on the archdiocese would add a second layer of review before any letter of suitability is issued. “Now, any request for a letter of suitability will also have to go through our Safe Environment Office, and our Legal Affairs Office, to make sure that there is nothing troubling in the file before the letter can be sent,” he said.

That sounds a lot like, “Gee, we didn’t know about the abuse charges when we transferred Father So and So to another parish.”

It is inconceivable today that any segment of the Catholic Church could operate unaware of the shame of the sexual abuse scandal. Prompted by the Pennsylvania report, other attorneys general are conducting their own investigations of abuse and cover-up. Dioceses are releasing names of offenders. On Christmas, Pope Francis called for priests who had abused children to turn themselves in, vowing the church will “never again” hide their crimes. U.S. bishops are holding a retreat this week for “prayer and reflection” on the scandal.

And the world’s bishops will hold a summit at the Vatican next month, they say to come up with a comprehensive response to the enduring and — apparently to some — still non-existent problem.