UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
By David Clohessy, director of SNAP (davidgclohessy@gmail.com, 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home)
Francis has done more about the abuse crisis than his predecessors. Isn’t that encouraging?
First, we should judge church officials NOT by what their terrible predecessors did but by what responsible officials would do. It’s little comfort to a girl who’s been raped under Francis to say “Well, under Benedict, there might have been an even smaller chance of your predator being ousted.”
Neither Benedict nor Francis has exposed a single child molesting cleric or really punished a single complicit church official. They’ve made lots of reassuring talk but taken little meaningful action.
But several bishops have been forced out because of abuse. Isn’t that good news?
We don’t think this is true. A tiny handful of bishops (Finn in Kansas City, Nienstedt and Piche in St. Paul) have resigned. Were they forced out? Who knows. Continued Vatican secrecy means that no one can be sure whether they were forced and if so, what the real reason or reasons might have been.
There’s nothing new about bishops resigning, while keeping their titles and paychecks and honors. A pope firing bishops would be new. And it would deter wrongdoing. But it didn’t happen under Benedict and it isn’t happening under Francis.
What about the Paraguay bishop? Francis ousted him.
That’s true. But within hours, the official papal spokesman said that this move was NOT because the bishop mishandled abuse. (Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano had promoted Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, who has been described by bishops from Switzerland to Pennsylvania as ‘dangerous,’ ‘abnormal,’ and ‘a serious threat to young people’ and against whom a $400,000 settlement was paid.)
The bishop was ousted because he alienated his brother bishops, called them gay in public, etc. (see: SNAP)
But three US bishops accused of concealing abuse have resigned just this year. Isn’t that progress?
Again, not a single one of the world’s 5,100 bishops found the courage to say “Finn enabled abuse” or “Neinstedt endangered kids.” That would have been progress.
Real progress will happen when 1) dozens of complicit bishops are openly defrocked, demoted or at least disciplined and denounced, and 2) Catholic officials say – clearly and publicly – that it’s because they enabled or concealed child sex crimes.
We’re glad these three aren’t in office any more. Their resignations have temporarily made some Catholics and victims feel better. Their resignations, however, are not signs of reform. They are signs that these prelates are so clearly discredited that the Vatican had no choice but to let them step down.
What about the new papal commission?
Pete Saunders and Marie Collins are wonderful people. But this panel is based on a deceptive premise: that Vatican officials must “learn more” about abuse and cover up. They don’t. They need courage, not information. They’ve dealt with this crisis for centuries in private and for decades in public. They know what to do.
This panel perpetuates the self-serving myth that Catholic officials need more information. What they need is courage. They usually refuse to do what’s right because they are monarchs and like their power and the status quo more than anything else.
Over the past 20 years, thousands of lay people, including dozens or hundreds of clergy sex abuse victims, have sat or still sit on church abuse panels but these panels have produced little if any real reform.
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