CHICAGO (IL)
Renew America
By Matt C. Abbott
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago recently had a detailed letter placed in all archdiocesan parish bulletins regarding “accountability and transparency.” He wrote:
This January, as was announced a month ago in a press conference by a plaintiff’s lawyer, documents relating to the sexual misconduct of 30 priests of the archdiocese will be released as part of settlement agreements over the past years. All these incidents were reported over the years to the civil authorities and claims have been mediated civilly. Almost all of the incidents happened decades ago, perpetrated by priests whom neither I nor many younger clergy have ever met or talked to, because the priests were either dead or out of ministry before I came to Chicago as archbishop.
Nevertheless, the publication puts the actions of these men and the archdiocese itself in the spotlight. Painful though publicly reviewing the past can be, it is part of the accountability and transparency to which the archdiocese is committed. For more than 20 years, the archdiocese has reported all allegations of sexual abuse to the civil authorities and to DCFS. Records of priests have been shared with civil authorities when asked for. Accountability to the civil authorities constitutionally responsible for the protection of children is part of the life of the church here. …
Two individuals for whom I have a great deal of respect have sharply divergent views on this matter (although both are supportive of abuse victims).
Veteran investigator Thomas Hampson, founder of the Truth Alliance Foundation, writes:
Cardinal George’s letter is largely revisionist history… He admits clericalism – that is, the tendency for priests and bishops to see themselves as unaccountable – had infected the church. He claims all that has changed. If that is so, how has the church disciplined members of the hierarchy for their roles in the cover-ups?
I know of cases in this archdiocese and others where priests were taking children to their rooms in the rectory, were later caught, confessed and were removed from ministry. But I also know that the investigations by these dioceses of these priests did not include questioning staff of the rectory, or the other priests, or members of the chancery, about what they observed and what they knew, what they reported and to whom. Certainly no action was taken against anyone for failing to report a concern or problem they knew about. On the other hand, there was action taken against some who came forward and complained. There was, and I believe still is, a culture that is hostile to whistleblowers in the vast majority of the diocese of the church, certainly in Chicago. There is no coming clean about this in his letter.
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