Time for legal action on pedophile priests

By William Shuttleworth
Daily News
February 18, 2019

https://bit.ly/2GvFzJ2

This is a very difficult essay to write and is sure to cause anger and denial. For generations, Catholic priests have sexually abused children throughout the entire world.

The number of reported and documented cases is prolific in almost every state and hundreds of priests are being investigated and charged for sexual abuse of minors. Reporting by The Boston Globe revealed the extent of abuse in this state 15 years ago in its "Spotlight" series.

In virtually every diocese, the Catholic Church engages in constant attempts to refute, distort and minimize the fact priests are responsible for the wanton sexual abuse of hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of children worldwide. 

Put this in perspective of what a national health hazard this really is. A few years ago, three cases of the Ebola virus were diagnosed in the United States and we appointed a cabinet-level czar to oversee this matter.

Yet, our national government has been silent on the issue of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. It is incomprehensible that the guardians of our nation’s health have not launched a full investigation into the willful, calculated and intentional destruction of children’s lives at the hands of thousands of sexual predators using the protection of the church. A child who has been sexually abused is forever damaged, a shattered soul seeking healing forever more. 

There has been some lip service, some papal councils, committees well-orchestrated and public apologies by Catholic officials. Many priests have been transferred (which is a tragic way of continuance of abuse), and a few priests have been arrested, imprisoned and/or excommunicated.

Yet, it is the usual posture of the Catholic Church to claim that it is not the "church," but a few bad priests. They further claim that abuse is a matter of the past, and offer that this issue is relatively insignificant in the grand picture of all the goodness the church does for the world. Most recently, the pope has gone out of his way to impede the good work of Cardinal Sean O’Malley, one man of unbridled integrity, who was appointed as chief adviser on sexual abuse in the church.

The Catholic Church does some incredible good in this world. Yet, if just one child is the victim of sexual abuse, all children are at risk. All sexual abuse is reprehensible, but being abused by someone who represents the sanctity of God is unfathomable.

We send our children to church, to church school, to work as altar boys, with the full trust that they are in the hands of God’s chosen. Yet, millions of children tragically know that this trust is a sham. The numbers of people who have acknowledged being abused is usually a very small percentage of the actual total. Shame, fear and coercion are major factors in not wanting to reveal these egregious acts.

The research indicates that up to 5 percent of all Catholic children have been sexually abused by a priest. There are 70 million Catholics in America; that would suggest that 3.5 million Catholics have been sexually abused in their lifetime. Even if it was 1 percent, that would be 700,000 people, the size of a city larger than Boston.

That the church has not sufficiently policed its own and continues to give lip service to this epidemic is at the core of the problem. If our society knows of such a health crisis and does nothing, we become complicit in these crimes. Somewhere, someone, some papers, some men and women of decency must stand up and say, "No more." It could start here in Newburyport.

If the church is to survive, I recommend five major steps without compromise:

1. Appoint a committee headed by someone like former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, not a papal appointee, to have full investigatory power to report findings and recommendations published within six months to the Catholic Church and to the attorneys general of every state. 

2. Immediately suspend all priests under investigation and turn investigative/prosecutorial power to state attorneys general. 

3. Establish a national 1-800 hotline, well-publicized for victims to report abuse for investigation, headed by the AG's office in each state.

4. Establish required annual announcements in every Catholic Church encouraging victims to anonymously report sexual abuse to an appointed ombudsman with links to legal authorities.

5. Publish the names of all perpetrators.

It is time for truth and reconciliation. It is long overdue. 

William Shuttleworth lives in Newburyport. He is not Catholic, but is a survivor of years of sexual abuse as a young child.