FAYETTEVILLE (NY)
Syracuse.com [Syracuse NY]
April 15, 2026
By Dave Pasinski
To the Editor:
The shocking and sudden collapse of the reputation of an American icon, Cesar Chavez, due to his sexual exploitation of his colleague, Dolores Huerta, and many others — with some 12 or under and fathering four children outside his marriage — reminds us that putting our unquestioned confidence in a particular hero and thus blinding ourselves to one’s faults and sins is extremely disillusioning and dangerous.
Those in the Catholic and wider community have learned bitter lesson over the last 20 years as the clerical sexual abuse scandal — exacerbated by clericalism, hierarchical neglect, denial and cover-up — took its toll on the spirituality of the faithful, confidence in all clerics, and any appreciation of what is the “Church.”
It has been a painful and costly resolution for the Syracuse Diocese and so many others throughout the country as parishes and other institutions have had to raise the funds required to move in the direction of a just resolution. Bishop Douglas Lucia and others deserve credit for completing this bankruptcy settlement of $176 million with as much distributive justice as possible made to the hundreds who were abused.
Yet as their healing continues, all of us of goodwill are welcomed into a spirit of solidarity with the survivors and are also invited to the events of a Healing Service at LeMoyne Panasci Chapel at 6:30 p.m. April 17 and to a “Blue Mass” at the Cathedral at 2 p.m. April 26.
Courageous and caring souls, through our “Hope, Healing, and Solidarity” committee, have both called the institution to a deeper sense of justice and encouraged the many attitudes, programs, safeguards to hope that such betrayal never happens again.
Similarly, now this shocking and tragic history of Chavez must also not destroy the true values of the United Farm Worker movement that provided a greater sense of dignity, compensation and a much deeper sense of appreciation for those millions who work in our fields and who now often feel once again under some suspicion with the egregious ICE federal policies that are racking our society in the name of safety and security.
The silence of so many women for over 30 years demonstrates how charismatic and powerful men, often associated with well-meaning causes or movements which have status and promoting some beneficial cause, can be too easily overlooked.
It was painful for our congregation to remove the large photo of Cesar Chavez from our “path of the peacemakers” at our church. It had sadly removed that of another hero, Jean Vanier, the founder of the wonderful L’Arche movement for persons with disabilities, for his betrayal and seduction of so many vulnerable women, also.
I hope that we can take heart and courage from the survivors of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up who have led the way in attempting to see the values within the institutional church as well as its need to repent its sins.
I hope we can celebrate the organizations and continued fight for justice for those many farm and migrant workers in whom the legacy of the accomplishments of Cesar Chavez are recognized even as we condemn his personal exploitations.
We need ecclesiastical leaders, labor leaders and so many others to challenge our society, but that never excuses the seductive actions which their power can so insideously permit.
What we need during this Child Abuse Prevention and Sexual Assault Awareness Month is an ever deeper sense of attentive responsibility and commitment among all of us so that our leaders do not betray their powerful gifts in exploitation- especially of the most vulnerable.
Chavez heartbreakingly teaches a difficult lesson again to us all but our disillusionment cannot yield to despair. We must focus on a deeper sense of insight, commitment, integrity and an honest and rigorous examination to keep us on the road seeking the common good in mutual respect and especially for those who are the most vulnerable.