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Yakima Diocese May Post Names of Accused Priests

By Jane Gargas
Yakima Herald-Republic
February 26, 2019

https://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/yakima-diocese-may-post-names-of-accused-priests/article_cc161342-3a61-11e9-abe7-6b7e4b8fcddd.html

Bishop Joseph J. Tyson

Next month the Catholic Diocese of Yakima is considering taking a new — and very public — approach to dealing with sex abuse by members of the clergy.

The Diocesan Lay Advisory Board will discuss at its March meeting whether the diocese should post on its website the names of clergy who have served here and have had credible allegations of sex abuse of a minor made against them.

The group, which meets quarterly, investigates allegations of sexual misconduct in the local Catholic Church. Once they determine whether to publish or not, members will make a recommendation to Bishop Joseph Tyson, who will make the ultimate decision.

“I am leaning one way, but it wouldn’t be fair for me to say before discussing it with the board,” said lay advisory board chair, Russ Mazzola, a Yakima attorney.

Other board members are Jorge Torres, a psychologist; Tom Dittmar, who has a background in law enforcement; Dr. Mark Maiocco, a physician; Monsignor John Ecker, pastor at St. Paul Cathedral, and Elizabeth Torres, an environmental health-project coordinator.

Tyson confirmed that the board is exploring ways to demonstrate more openness.

“Not just in light of the church’s sexual abuse scandals, but the wider scandals involving Penn State football, Olympic gymnastics, and even the #metoo movement, transparency is the key,” he wrote in an email to a reporter.

The two other dioceses in Washington, Seattle and Spokane, publish names of cleric sex abusers on their websites. The Archdiocese of Seattle posted a list of 77 names of offending priests in January 2016, and several more names have since been added.

After declaring bankruptcy in 2004, the Spokane Diocese agreed to post 30 names of accused clergy as part of its bankruptcy agreement.

Of the 197 dioceses in the United States, approximately 50 have published names of accused clergy, according to Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support group for clergy sex abuse victims. Based in St. Louis, the organization has more than 25,000 members.

“The public is concerned,” explained Zach Hiner, SNAP’s executive director. “Most people want to see transparency.”

However, it’s a complicated issue, Tyson maintained. “There is no consistent definition of what constitutes a ‘credible allegation.’ What gets a name posted on one diocesan website does not necessarily get the name of an offender with an equivalent allegation posted on the next diocese’s website.”

Tyson raised his concern at the November meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, noting that the lay advisory board here would like to see consistent standards and definitions applied to the term.

Tyson and Mazzola pointed out that there are pros and cons to publishing names of abusers.

Posting names, Tyson said, could help victims “feel vindicated that their perpetrators and the pain they caused are permanently acknowledged.”

Additionally, Mazzola noted, it might relieve those who have remained silent about their abuse.

“It may give victims the courage to come forward,” he said.

Hiner, of SNAP, agreed.

“We know that 80 percent of victims never come forward. But when they see the name of their abuser, they know there’s a big chance they will be believed.”

He maintained that posting names offers healing to victims, prevents future abuse and acts as a deterrent.

“I would argue that a serial abuser would know his name is out there and think, ‘Maybe I can’t be a coach or a Boy Scout leader,’” Hiner said.

Mazzola added that disclosure would also show that the diocese is not hiding anything.

On the other hand, he worries that seeing a name of a perpetrator on a list could resurrect old feelings and retraumatize the victim.

Also, Tyson noted, “Some victims do not want their perpetrators rewarded with any kind of publicity.”

But SNAP’s Hiner believes openness — publicly disclosing abusers — should prevail.

He noted that more than 20 dioceses have chosen to post names of accused abusers just since August.

Hiner attributes that spike to a Pennsylvania grand jury report released that month which found 300 priests had abused more than 1,000 children over the last 70 years in that state alone.

“The reticence to publish we’ve seen go away in the past six months,” Hiner said.

Monsignor Robert Siler, chancellor of the Yakima Diocese, lamented that not only was the Pennsylvania report damaging, but those revelations were followed by charges of sexual abuse of minors against a prominent Cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, who led the Washington, D.C., Archdiocese.

“Events last summer were a one-two punch,” Siler said.

Pope Francis laicized, or defrocked, McCarrick several weeks ago after a church trial found him guilty of sexually abusing minors.

Other recent disclosures have further roiled the church. In January, the Roman Catholic Church in Texas released the names of almost 300 priests who it said had been credibly accused of child sex abuse over nearly eight decades. The names were posted by all 15 of the state’s dioceses.

However, it’s not just the Catholic Church in turmoil in Texas. Several weeks ago, two Texas newspapers concluded an extensive investigation of sexual clergy abuse in that state within the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country. They named 220 church leaders and volunteers who have been found guilty of sexually abusing members of their congregations since 2008.

“Wherever there are people in a position of power, abuse can occur,” Hiner said. “This issue will continue to bubble up.”

Since the mid-1990s, the Yakima Diocese has paid $3.5 million to settle claims of sex abuse against clergy here. Most of that was covered by insurance, Siler said. Three years ago the Yakima Herald-Republic published the names of 17 Yakima priests accused of sexual abuse of a minor. Since that time, another priest has been accused of abuse. (See related list.)

None of those claims were against nuns, nor have any nuns come forward to say they were abused by a priest here. Pope Francis publicly acknowledged in February that abuse of nuns is a serious problem throughout the world.

Also in February, the pope convened a three-day conference of some 200 Catholic bishops from around the world to address the issue of sex abuse.

After the Lay Advisory Board here recommends whether to post names of priests accused of abuse, the bishop will then make public his decision, probably sometime after Easter, Siler said.

Before that, the diocese has scheduled a Mass at St. Paul Cathedral for victims of sexual abuse at 11 a.m. March 17.

The Mass is just one of multiple steps the Yakima Diocese has taken to guard against abuse, including policies for safe environment training, sexual abuse prevention, intercessions for victims during regular Masses and the screening of clergy, laity and church volunteers, Tyson said.

“Taken together, (these actions) indicate a deep desire to properly serve our parishioners and our community,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 




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