Pushing Clergy Abuse into the Light

The Telegram
December 17, 2019

https://www.thetelegram.com/opinion/local-perspectives/editorial-pushing-clergy-abuse-into-the-light-389167/

For the first time in Canada, a Catholic religious order is preparing to publicly release a list of its priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse, including where the priests worked and when they worked there.

The head of the Jesuits of Canada, Father Erik Oland, told the Globe and Mail that he made the decision to have a list compiled more than a year ago, after a Pennsylvania grand jury investigation revealed the abuse of more than 1,000 children in that state.

While it may be new in Canada, the process has been established for some time in the United States. The archdiocese of Tucson released a list in 2002, and since then, 145 other dioceses in the United States have followed suit, though some lists have included only priests and clergy who have been convicted of crimes. Six different Jesuit provinces in the United States have also released such lists. The collection of those lists has led to giant open-access files like the ones kept by BishopAccountability.org, which have compiled lists containing thousands of names of offending clergy. (Not all of the lists have been completely voluntary — several were created as the result of settlement agreements for civil abuse cases.)

A private company began reviewing Canadian Jesuit files this October and is using the same standard that has been used in the United States by the religious orders that have already compiled similar lists. The company will establish that allegations against Jesuits are “more likely true than not after investigation.”

There are still major hurdles that have to be addressed in the release of the Canadian information, including privacy and other legal issues, but a clear and open process revealing accused abusers could go a long way towards helping victims, especially those who have had to face obstruction and denial from the church hierarchy in the past.

That is, at least, what the Jesuits are attempting. It remains to be seen if other Canadian dioceses and orders follow the Jesuit lead.