UNITED STATES
Jay Nelson’s Renegade Catholic Blog
[THE PROBLEM OF SEXUAL MOLESTATION BY ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY :
MEETING THE PROBLEM IN A COMPREHENSIVE AND RESPONSIBLE MANNER – via BishopAccountability.org]
Most survivors of clergy abuse by now have heard the woeful tale of The Manual (full title: The Problem of Sexual Molestation by Roman Catholic Clergy: Meeting the Problem in a Responsible Manner).
It’s widely known how back when the first scandal arose in Louisiana in the early 1980s, Ray Mouton, the attorney for the perpetrating priest, Gilbert Gauthe, called for help. And how Fathers Tom Doyle and Michael Peterson responded. Together, the three men wrote a proposal on managing the already brewing clergy abuse crisis for the country’s bishops, and how, mysteriously, nothing ever came of it.
Why? Could it be that was the entire point of the exercise?
While going through old newspaper clippings about the scandals for my book Sons of Perdition, I came upon a curious fact that had emerged. Our old neighbors, the Servants of the Paraclete, were advised by the bishops’ organization at one point to destroy their records. The purpose was supposedly, “to make room.” The archbishop of the hosting diocese of Santa Fe was also told to do the same. But how did the folks in Washington come to think both places were running out of space and they had to tell them to do something about it?
Unfortunately, no precise date was given, just the “mid 1980s”. Interestingly, The Manual was completed on June 8-9, 1985 and presented at the annual National Conference of Catholic Bishops pow-wow shortly thereafter – as close to “mid 1980s” as one can get.
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