NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune
September 21, 2018
By The Times-Picayune Editorial Board
After decades of secrecy, Louisiana’s Catholic bishops are considering releasing the names of priests with credible accusations of abuse against them.
New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond, in an interview with NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Thursday (Sept. 20), said a decision should come soon.
The right decision should be obvious: The priests ought to be identified. There should be no exceptions for priests who are deceased or who have left the church. And the disclosure should include the names of any lay abusers who preyed on victims under the cover of the church.
Devout Catholics regard the sacrament of reconciliation as a pillar of their faith. They are taught from early childhood that fully confessing one’s misdeeds is the first step toward forgiveness and spiritual healing.
The bishops should now practice what they preach. For the good of the community, the church, and most importantly the victims, they must release the names of the accused and cooperate fully in the civil and criminal proceedings that are sure to follow.
These priests harmed children and inflicted unimaginable pain on them and their families, pain that continues decades later. The Catholic Church for years has shielded most of these priests and other abusers who worked in and for the church. The secrecy allowed some of them to move on to other ministries, where they could abuse more children.
Archbishop Aymond said in the interview that he believes transparency is essential. But he also said the possibility of releasing the names is “riddled with problems,” particularly in cases where the abusive priest has died.
Those problems are of the church’s making. If the church’s hierarchy had decided sooner to be transparent and to confront abuse, the scandal might not have festered.
Whether a priest is living or dead should make no difference now, if there are credible accusations against him. What is important is publicly recognizing the harm done to victims by these predators. There can be no healing without openness by the church.
An August grand jury report in Pennsylvania shows the depth of the scandal. The grand jury, using internal documents from six Catholic dioceses, identified more than 300 priests believed to have sexually abused more than 1,000 children. Since the grand jury report, about 40 of almost 200 dioceses across the United States have released the names of priests accused of abusing children in the past.
In Louisiana, the church hierarchy has been silent up to now.
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