PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com
November 3, 2017
By Charles J. Chaput
In recent years the Inquirer has done a variety of valuable reporting and editorializing on sex abuse in the Catholic Church and past failures by the Church to root out abusers and to protect the innocent. The entire public — including Catholics — can be grateful for that.
I arrived in Philadelphia just months after a harsh 2011 grand jury report, and since then (but starting well before then) the archdiocese has worked hard to reform its victim outreach efforts, safety standards, handling of abuse allegations, and cooperation with law enforcement.
None of this has been window dressing. The suffering of past abuse victims is a deep scar on the witness of the Church, and one that will take generations to redeem. The priests, deacons, religious, and bishops of this diocese love their people and are committed to protecting them. The archdiocese, its ministries, and its resources are no more and no less than the people who sustain its parishes. They make Catholic services possible, and they — not some disembodied religious corporation — bear the burden of unjust penalties and laws.
Truth is always a good thing. So it’s been odd to notice that the Inquirer has often seemed less committed to reporting the history, roots, scope, and intractability of chronic sexual-abuse problems in our public schools, institutions, and society at large — and even less interested in what the Church has done and is doing to deal with the problem.
Since 2002, the archdiocese has committed more than $13 million to victim assistance for individuals and families, including counseling and other mental-health related services, help with medications, necessary travel, and child care.
Professionals in the victim advocacy field administer our archdiocesan Victim Assistance Program. The focus is on healing. It doesn’t matter when the abuse occurred, and no limit exists on how long the assistance is offered. Counselors and therapists, independent of the archdiocese, establish each person’s plan based on the unique needs of each individual. We’ve invested an additional $6 million in abuse prevention efforts that include educational programming for tens of thousands of children and adults in our schools and parishes, as well as screenings and background checks through state and federal law enforcement agencies. All of these efforts are ongoing.
Yet these facts have routinely been ignored or underreported by media in the public sphere. Despite ample evidence of the scope of the sexual-abuse problem beyond the Catholic Church, some continue to perpetuate the lie that the sexual abuse of minors is lopsidedly a “Catholic” problem and that the Church has done little to address it. This is flatly, demonstrably false. In a Nov. 1 editorial, the Inquirer even claimed that “the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the insurance industry have long fought efforts to hold abusers accountable for past crimes.” Again, this is flatly, demonstrably false. Any person who criminally abuses a child should be punished by law.
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