Release of abusive priests’ names only a beginning

Express-News
February 13, 2019

https://bit.ly/2DEpJYx

The archdiocese led by Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller recently released the names of priests "credibly accused" of sexual abuse of minors. Continued vigilance is key.

There is much work to be done by the U.S. Catholic Church as it moves forward with restoring the public trust, shattered by decades of failing to properly address allegations of sexual abuse of children by clergy.

The release last month of the names of close to 300 Texas-based priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse, including 54 in the Archdiocese of San Antonio, will go a long way toward starting the healing process for many victims and their families. But it’s only a beginning.

The scars are deep.

The cases on the Bexar County list date back as far as 1941 and include 150 separate allegations of misconduct. Most of the allegations were under the radar of most Bexar County residents because only a few ever surfaced in court. A review of Express-News archives indicates the archdiocese had paid at least $6.63 million as of 2011 to victims of sexual abuse by priests in Bexar County.

As painful as these types of cases are, there needs to be continued honesty and transparency going forward. Needed: strong policies that ensure allegations of misconduct are reported to law enforcement in a timely manner and suspects are sidelined from their jobs while investigations are conducted.

Those who participate in cover-ups and allow suspected child molesters to be reassigned must also be held accountable. Pretending the problem does not exist won’t make it go away. Decades of trying to resolve the problem internally have proven futile.

One of the more troubling cases on the Bexar County list is that of Jose Luis Sandoval, who was ordained in 1974 in Mexico and served in San Antonio from 1974 to 1998. During his time in Texas, he was investigated for alleged child sexual abuse, sent to psychiatric evaluation and treatment for a year, and then allowed to return to his job.

He later fled the country when new allegations of abuse surfaced and was subsequently removed from his assignment and prohibited from exercising any priestly ministry in the Archdiocese of San Antonio by Archbishop Patrick Flores in 1998.

Yet despite all that, Flores, who retired in 2004, later wrote a general letter of support for Sandoval without a reference to his problems in San Antonio. Sandoval proceeded to work with the Archdiocese of Guadalajara in 2000, but four years later lost his privileges there as well.

It appears what Flores did was common practice. Problem priests were removed from jobs when trouble arose and then simply allowed to go into unsuspecting communities where the same issues often surfaced.

The number of children who were abused will never be known. Some victims are still trying to come to terms with what happened to them and have not come forward.

And the list is likely to grow. As the report was released, the local archdiocese was investigating cases involving other priests.

All credible allegations must be investigated, not just in Texas or the U.S. but abroad as well.

A week after Texas archdioceses gained international attention for the release of their priest lists, Pope Francis publicly acknowledged the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops. The sexual abuse of nuns by clergy in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America was reported by the Associated Press last year. The news agency’s investigation found the Vatican had not supported the victims or taken adequate measures to punish the offenders.

Pope Francis is slated to meet with the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences later this month to focus on a response to the global sex abuse crises. He has said he is committed to ending the problem.

Following the Catholic Church’s release of names, a Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express-News report revealed similar abuse stories within the Southern Baptist Convention. We will comment separately on this matter in the coming days. For now, suffice to say that such revelations — absent accountability and absent acceptance of responsibility — will have the effect of diminished trust in institutions in which many thought trust was a given.

It can be again, but only if that commitment to address the problem is vigilant and continuing.