NEW YORK (NY)
Salon
MAY 4, 2019
By Mary Elizabeth Williams
In the photograph, I am smiling brightly, and so are the two men I am standing next to. One is the future father of my children. The other is currently accused of sexual abuse involving “multiple” victims: his name is Robert Chabak. That’s how he signed my marriage certificate. We called him Father Bob.
I’ve wondered over the last several years, of course, about the priests of my youth. As revelation upon revelation of sexual abuse in the Catholic church has emerged, I asked myself if I had known any of the men involved, if the cash I’d faithfully tucked into my collection plate envelopes had gone toward settlements with victims. I’ve talked to survivors — including a family friend whose courage in coming forward was a key part of the Boston Globe’s breakthrough Spotlight investigation of the early 2000s. But perhaps I couldn’t fully face learning the names of the men in my own own parishes until I’d truly left the church for good. And sure enough, there he was.
Over the past weekend, the archdiocese of New York released a list containing the names of 120 men. In his accompanying statement, Cardinal Dolan said they were of “archdiocesan clergy found credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor, or any clergy who were the subject of a claim, found eligible for compensation, made to the archdiocese’s Independent Reconciliation & Compensation Program.” He also asked for “forgiveness again for the failings of those clergy and bishops who should have provided for the safety of our young people but instead betrayed the trust placed in them by God and by the faithful.” None of the accused are currently in ministry.
Acknowledging the abuse of the past and setting a course to prevent it in the future is, I have no doubt, a painful task for the sincerely faithful trying to right decades of deep institutional wrongs. But there was also something a touch self-congratulatory in the communication too. The pastoral letter noted that “The Archdiocese of New York has vigorously implemented the requirements of the Charter and, in fact, has adopted policies that are above and beyond the Charter” and included specifics of “How We Have Helped Survivors of Abuse.” Transparency is great, but maybe don’t pat yourselves on the back too hard here, guys.
Seeing the New York list made me finally ready to look at my own. In a letter this past February, Newark Archbishop Cardinal James Tobin published 188 names of “diocesan clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors in the Archdiocese of Newark,” adding that “All names were previously reported to law enforcement agencies.”
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