UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
by Tom Roberts on Aug. 29, 2012 NCR Today
Fr. Benedict Groeschel has led an inspiring life, particularly in his role as head of a band of brothers known as the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. I’ve written admiringly of the Brooklyn-based friars in the past. For whatever one might think of their rather conservative approach to religious matters (Fr. Groeschel is a regular on EWTN), the friars live out of the heart of the gospel’s admonition to be with the poor, a position that has no liberal or conservative slant.
In short, they put their lives on the line.
In a recent interview with John Burger for the National Catholic Register, Groeschel looks back on his 25 years with the friars, a growing national and international community that started as a part of the better-known Capuchin Franciscans. His reflections are worth reading and his recollections at the end of the piece, a poetic reflection on death that leads to a recounting of a powerful moment as a youth, are particularly edifying.
But there is a section of the interview, in which he discusses the sex abuse crisis, that simply cannot stand unchallenged. It is particularly disturbing because he’s earned significant credentials in psychology. Asked whether he’s worked with priests who have been abusive he said:
“A little bit, yes; but you know, in those cases they have to leave. And some of them profoundly – profoundly – penitential, horrified. People have this picture in their minds of a person planning to – a psychopath. But that’s not the case. Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him (emphasis in original). A lot of the cases, the youngster – 14, 15 18 – is the seducer.”
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