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Catholic Church sexual abuse cases

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The Roman Catholic sex abuse cases are a series of accusations of child sexual abuse made against Roman Catholic priests in the second half of the 20th century. Though such charges had been levelled earlier, they first earned widespread attention in the mid-to-late 1990s.

The incidents involved diocesan priests (who are all male) and members of the various Roman Catholic religious orders (both male and female). Many cases involved seminaries, schools and orphanages, where children were in the care of clergy. Many of these allegations have led to successful prosecutions of the accused. Criticism of the Church and its leadership followed, especially as some high-ranking clergy covered-up abuse cases; see the Ferns report.

Early reports came mostly from the United States and Ireland. The John Jay Report[1] found accusations against 4,392 priests in the USA, about 4% of all priests.

The first cases to earn widespread publicity involved abuse of pre-pubescent children.[2] The "overwhelming majority"[3] of the abused children were male.

There had long been charges that a significant minority of the clergy had been practicing such behavior for decades, alleging that a "homosexual collective" within the priesthood viewed child sex abuse as a "religious rite" and "rite of passage" for altar boys and young priests.[4] While the reported sexual abuse dates primarily from the 1960s to 1980s,[5] some cases occurred in the 1990s and sexual abuse has also happened in past centuries: it was the topic of Pope Benedict XIV's apostolic constitution Sacramentum Poenitentiae in 1741.

The Catholic League has argued that the abuse figures in the Catholic Church are similar to abuse in other institutions: in U.S. public schools, up to 5% of all teachers are responsible for sexually abusing 15% of all students.[6] A 2003 survey reports that 6.7% of U.S. students had experienced educator sexual misconduct involving physical contact.[7] A U.S. Department of Education report issued in 2004 examined a number of American studies into the prevalence of sexual misconduct by school staff. They found that between 3.5% and 50.3% of students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career. They found that teachers, coaches, substitute teachers were the most common offenders. (Charol Shakeshaft, "Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature," U.S. Department of Education, 2004-JUN [1])

Sexual abuse

Clergymen, generally trusted by laity, had largely unrestricted contact with people through parish links with families, seminaries and other institutions run by religious orders including, regular and reform schools, orphanages, and hospitals, and social work organisations. Although sexual abuse by priests was of primary concern to the public, media reports during the height of the scandal revealed a number of examples of laity being involved in abuse at these institutions.

The clergy were involved in every aspect of the lives of the families of their communities: from baptising the young to the weekly celebration of Mass, giving children First Communion to marrying couples and being the celebrant of their funerals.

Apart from direct family connections, many Catholic families sent their children to Catholic schools, where priests either taught as teachers or visited regularly as the local parish priest or curate. Participation in the Catholic faith involved a close association with, and proximity to, priests. While the vast majority of priests are thought never to have abused any children (99.8%),[8] the small minority of priests who are known to have committed offences did have easy access to children.

One of the worst examples of a clergyman using his links with families to facilitate sex abuse occurred in Ireland, where one priest ² systematically raped and sexually abused hundreds of boys between 1945 and 1990. The scandal over the Fr. Brendan Smyth case, and the systematic obstruction of justice in his case by the Norbertine Order caused immense damage to the credibility of the Catholic church in Ireland, as did other cases, such as that of Fr. Jim Grennan, a parish priest, who abused children as they prepared for First Communion, and Fr. Sean Fortune, who committed suicide before his trial for the rape of children. The abuse by Grennan and others in the Diocese of Ferns in south-east Ireland led to the resignation of the local bishop, Brendan Comiskey, while similar scandals in the Archdiocese of Dublin severely damaged the reputation of its archbishop, Cardinal Connell. Although there were other social factors at play, some have argued that the ten-year drop in the percentage of Irish people attending weekly Mass (from 63% to 48%) was related to these events.

Inquiries have also established the existence of abuse in institutions, and a failure by those responsible for running and overseeing the institutions, when confronted with evidence of abuse, to act in the best interests of the victims or in accordance with the criminal law in their jurisdiction. Governmental institutions have also been heavily criticised for neglecting to adequately ensure that young people placed in those institutions by agents of the state were properly looked after.

Some of the most serious allegations of abuse were made against clergy who either worked in the institutions, or who were allowed unlimited visitation rights and access to young people. As with the clergy in parishes, many allegations have resulted in criminal convictions of the abusers.

In Canada the Mount Cashel Orphanage scandal in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Duplessis Orphans in the province of Quebec were of great public concern.

Policies

Abusers moved to different locations

Some bishops have been heavily criticized for moving offending priests from parish to parish rather than seeking to have them stripped of their faculties. Many dioceses submitted priests accused of sex abuse for intensive psychotherapeutic treatment and assessment, with the priests only resuming pastoral duties when the bishop was advised by the treating psychologists or psychiatrists that it was safe for them to be so assigned.

In response to questions, defenders of bishops' actions suggest that in re-assigning priests for duty after treatment they were acting on the basis of the best medical advice then available. Critics have questioned whether bishops are necessarily able to form accurate judgments in serious circumstances on the nature of the recovery of a priest based on advice from professions widely considered to have shifting opinions.

Critics have also condemned bishops for acting as business managers who viewed the issue as a disciplinary and medical matter for the priest and were concerned about secrecy for optimal financial management rather than the interests of the victims.


An example of the policy of shifting offenders from place to place is demonstrated in the case of Fr Ramos. Typical of these examples he was reassigned to another parish after treatment. An unknown Church official in 1985 took telephone notes that indicate an awareness of his continuing child molestation by Church officials well after his initial psychological treatment in the late 1970s. In spite of this knowledge that he re-offended, he continued to molest for a further two years and accumulated 25 allegations of abuse in total.

Failure to report criminal acts to police

From a legal perspective, the most serious offence, after the actual sexual abuse, was the failure by senior Church leaders aware of the facts to report the crimes directly to the police. This happened in many cases in many countries, and is proving to have extremely negative consequences. The Norbertines, for example, knew not merely of Fr. Brendan Smyth's apparently criminal pedophilic tendencies but also of allegations of sexually interfering with children from as early as 1945, yet it was only in the late 1980s and early 1990s that the police forces of the Republic of Ireland, the Garda Síochána, and of Northern Ireland, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, were able to gather sufficient information to prosecute Smyth.

In May 2001, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and later elected Pope Benedict XVI on the death of his predecessor, sent a letter[9] to all Catholic Bishops declaring that the Church's investigations into claims of child sex abuse were subject to the pontifical secret and were not to be reported to law enforcement until investigations were completed, on pain of excommunication. The secrecy related only to the internal investigation, and the letter did not attempt to discourage victims from reporting abuse to the police.

In response to the failure to report abuse to the police, lawmakers have changed the law to make reporting of abuse to police compulsory. An example of this can be found in Massachusetts, USA. (See external link near bottom of article)

History of false accusations

There is also a history of false accusations, e.g. the Nazi government denounced the Catholic Church as "awash with sex fiends" (the Nazi Churches minister claimed 7,000 clergy had been convicted of sex crimes between 1933 and 1937 while "the true figure seems to have been 170, of whom many had left the religious life prior to their offences.")[10] These accusations were part of a campaign by some members of the Nazi party, including Joseph Goebbels, to reduce the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Nazi Germany during the second half of the 1930s.[11]

Allegations of systematic plots to conceal evidence

Reviewers of the Smyth case differ as to whether it was a deliberate plot to conceal the nature of his behaviour, or whether much of what happened involved complete incompetence by his superiors, the abbots of Kilnacrott Abbey, or perhaps a mixture of an institution presuming that what happened to its members was its own business, plus the complete incompetence of his superiors, who failed to grasp the human and legal consequences of the actions of a particularly manipulative child molester, who found ways to circumvent whatever restrictions the abbots placed on him. (Cardinal Daly, both as Bishop of Down and Connor (where some of the abuse took place) and later as Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh, is recorded as having been privately scathing at the Norbertine "incompetence".[citation needed])

William McMurry, a Louisville, Kentucky lawyer, filed suit against the Vatican[12] in June 2004 on behalf of three men alleging abuse as far back as 1928, accusing Church leaders of organising a cover-up of cases of sexual abuse of children. Legal experts predict an unsuccessful outcome to this case, given the sovereignty of the Holy See and the lack of evidence of Vatican complicity. Sovereign immunity however, was recently denied upon appeal in a separate (WW II/ Vatican Bank/Ustazhe Genocide) United States federal lawsuit .

Payments to victims

Some have even gone so far as to allege that Church members paid off victims of child abuse, either in settlement of compensation claims, or in order to prevent them reporting to the police. In the mid-1990s, Archbishop (later Cardinal) Connell of Dublin lent money to a priest who had abused altar boy Andrew Madden; this money was used to pay compensation to Madden and to prevent him from reporting the abuse to the police. Connell later claimed never to have paid money to a victim, insisting that he had simply lent money to a priest who independently, and without Connell's foreknowledge, used the money to pay off his victim.

Implications of the scandal

Seminary training

The late Pope John Paul II took a number of steps to address the problem of priestly formation. On March 25, 1992, he completed the apostolic exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis ("I Shall Give You Shepherds"), one of the longest papal documents in history.[13] This explored the crisis of priestly identity, the renewal of priestly life and the reform of seminaries in detail. Some have attributed the scant number of abuse allegations from the 1990s as evidence that the late Pope's reform efforts were fruitful.

Clergy themselves have suggested their seminary training offered little to prepare them for a lifetime of celibate sexuality; a report submitted to the Synod of Bishops in Rome in 1971, called The Role of the Church in the Causation, Treatment and Prevention of the Crisis in the Priesthood by Dr. Conrad Baars, a Dutch-born Catholic psychiatrist from Minnesota, and based on a study of 1500 priests, suggested that some clergy had "psychosexual" problems. It is a matter of speculation as to how much of the Catholic Church's mishandling of sex abuse cases was influenced by such problems.

In some countries in the aftermath of the crisis caused by the sex abuse allegations, the Church has begun reforming seminary training to provide candidates for the priesthood with training to deal with a life of celibacy and sexual abstention.

Homosexuality within the clergy has also come under scrutiny, as most of the Roman Catholic sex abuse cases involved post-pubescent males. (See Ephebophilia.)[14]

Rome's Congregation for Catholic Education issued an official document, the Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders (2005). Controversially drawing a parallel between homosexuality and paedophilia, the document states that the Church "cannot admit to the seminary or to Holy Orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture'".

Declining standards explanation

Traditional Catholics have made the charge that the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) fostered a climate that encouraged priests to abuse children. The council essentially directed an opening of the doors to meet the world. This was considered an appropriate way of going forth and spreading the Good News. However traditional Catholics believe that this led to a conversion of Catholics to secularism rather than vice versa. In the January 27, 2003 edition of Time Magazine, actor and traditional Catholic Mel Gibson charged that "...Vatican II corrupted the institution of the church. Look at the main fruits: dwindling numbers and pedophilia." However it is important to note that abuse by priests was occurring long before the start of Vatican II and that many of the Roman Catholic sex abuse cases did not, strictly speaking, involve pedophilia.

Supply and demand explanation

Catholic clergy are in short supply in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.[15][16]

Catholic doctrines outlined below (Other Catholic Teachings, Practices) and this understaffing combine, it has been claimed, to make Catholic clergy extraordinarily valuable. It is alleged that the Catholic hierarchy acted to preserve the number of clergy and ensure that they were still available to supply priestly services, in the face of serious allegations that these priests were unfit for duty.

Others, however, disagree and believe that the Church's mishandling of the sex abuse cases merely reflected prevailing attitudes of the time towards such activity, in which the tendency was to suppress the information lest it cause scandal and a loss of trust in the institution, an approach reflected in the manner in which the media and secular organisations hid damaging information or ignored it; from the sexual promiscuity of leading politicians to domestic violence. They see the Church as having made horrendous but genuine mistakes, their leaders being out of touch with society's increasing demand for accountability.

Celibacy explanation

It has been suggested that the discipline of celibacy in the Catholic priesthood offers a means by which priests with sexual urges that are aimed towards children rather than adults can hide those tendencies, their lack of sexual feelings towards adults being unnoticeable in a completely unmarried clergy. It is believed that those with a predisposition toward child molestation would be drawn to the celibate lifestyle due to a confusion about their sexual identity or orientation. There have also been suggestions that those who are already child molesters, either already acting or on the verge of acting on their disposition, deliberately enter the Catholic clergy due to the "cover" its celibacy provides, and since clergy may have frequent access to children.

In response, it has been said that there is no indication of a higher level of child-oriented sexual activity among the unmarried Catholic clergy than that of the married clergy of other denominations[17] and of schoolteachers.[18] If this is the case, (i) those with a predisposition to molest children are no more likely to end up among the Catholic clergy, and (ii) already active child molesters as a group have not specially targeted the Catholic clergy for entry, though it seems likely that some child molesters have entered its ordained ministry as they have other ministries elsewhere. It has also been noted that the easiest way to access children is to have a family and child sexual abuse is statistically most commonly associated with families. Thus deliberately choosing a celibate profession can also be considered to make things harder for a prospective child molester.

Molestation of pre-pubescent children was rare in the Roman Catholic sex abuse cases and opinion is very divided on whether there is any connection between the Catholic institution of celibacy and the incidence of child abuse, for a number of reasons: there are relatively few statistical studies on the issue of sexual abuse among the clergy; sexual abuse rates among the general population are almost impossible to determine, since 90-95%[citation needed] of instances of child molesting go unreported. Therefore, no consensus can be reported here. Examples from each side of the debate are shown below.

Advocacy against mandatory celibacy

The Center for the Study of Religious Issues (CSRI), the research division of CITI Ministries (an anti-celibacy advocacy organization), published a book about quantitative studies 1999-2004,[19] which argues that a connection exists between mandatory celibacy and sexual abuse. Based on her research, the author states:[20]

"The evidence is so strong that we can predict a continuation of the crime as long as mandatory celibacy exists in the priesthood."

Chapter 1 of the book is available online.[21] The book concludes:

"A demonstrable link exists between mandatory celibacy and clergy sexual abuse. Sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy is different from sexual abuse by other populations in almost every aspect of the victim/perpetrator profiles and characteristics, differences that can only be seen by segregating respective demographics and other specifics from general population abuse."

The author of The Bingo Report, Louise Haggett, has been a leading activist in the push for married priests for over a decade. In 1992, she founded Celibacy is the Issue (CITI) Ministries, whose "Rent-a-Priest"[22] program promotes the activities of priests or laicized priests who have married without authorization. However, her personal opinion against celibacy should be taken into account: to what extent do her opinions affect her conclusions, rather than derive from the evidence? As further evidence, the Apostle Paul in his 1st and 2nd letter towards Timothy notes that, if they are to marry at all, "Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, should be the husband of one wife...". This tradition can be seen practiced in the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, although no bishop of any church may be married, and are therefore either widowers or lifelong monastics.

Advocacy for mandatory celibacy

Prof. Philip Jenkins, a non-Catholic and Professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State University, published the book Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis in 1996. In it, he calculated that approximately 0.2 percent of Catholic priests are child molesters.[23] His 2002 article "The myth of the 'pedophile priest'"[24] expresses his views. In contrast to Louise Haggett's statement, Professor Jenkins states:

"My research of cases over the past 20 years indicates no evidence whatever that Catholic or other celibate clergy are any more likely to be involved in misconduct or abuse than clergy of any other denomination -- or indeed, than nonclergy. However determined news media may be to see this affair as a crisis of celibacy, the charge is just unsupported."

Furthermore, there remains the simple fact that a Catholic priest suffering sexual temptations is not likely to turn immediately to a teenage boy simply because Church discipline does not permit clergy to marry. Supporters of clerical celibacy suggest, then, that there is some other factor at work.

Media hype explanation

Some —including non-Catholic academics such as Philip Jenkins—have observed that the Catholic Church is being unfairly singled out by a secular media which they say fails to highlight similar sexual scandals in other religious groups, such as the Anglican Communion, various Protestant churches, and the Jewish and Islamic communities. In particular the Catholic Church may have a lower incidence of molesting priests than Churches that allow married clergy. Statistically child molestation occurs within families but Catholic priests do not have families. Similarly, the term "pedophile priests," widely used in the media, implies a distinctly higher rate of child molesters within the Roman Catholic priesthood when in reality the incidence is lower than most other segments of society".[25]

Other Catholic teachings, practices

The Catholic Church clearly teaches the sexual abuse of children to be gravely sinful. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church's list of moral offences, one finds:

"...any sexual abuse perpetrated by adults on children or adolescents entrusted to their care. The offense is compounded by the scandalous harm done to the physical and moral integrity of the young, who will remain scarred by it, all their lives; and the violation of responsibility for their upbringing." (CCC 2389).[26]

In the Bible's New Testament, Jesus tells his disciples, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." (see Matthew 18:6; Mark 9:42; and Luke 17:2)

Despite these teachings, some critics have charged that specific doctrines or traditional practices in Catholicism contributed to the problem. Catholic teaching affirms that so long as the officiant has been validly ordained, his personal sins have no effect on the validity of the Masses, absolutions, baptisms, and other sacraments he has administered. The doctrine of apostolic succession makes valid ordinations and institutional affiliation the chief consideration in clerical status.

Diocesan priests versus those from orders

While most claims have been against diocesan priests, there have been sexual abuse cases concerning those in orders.[27][28][29] In the United States, Salesian High in Richmond, California lost a sexual abuse case,[30] whilst in Australia there are allegations that the Salesians moved a priest convicted of abuse in Melbourne to Samoa in order to avoid further police investigation and charges.[31][32]


Episcopal resignations

  • Bernard Francis Law, Cardinal and Archbishop of Boston, Massachusetts, United States had come under enormous public pressure to resign after Church documents suggested he had covered up sexual abuse committed by priests in his archdiocese.[33] There is, for example, the priest John Geoghan, who was shifted from one parish to another although Cardinal Law had often been informed of his abuse; for example, in December 1984 auxiliary Bishop John M. D’Arcy wrote to Cardinal Law complaining about the reassignment of Geoghan to another Boston-area parish because of his “history of homosexual involvement with young boys."[34]
The Vatican announced on December 13, 2002 that Pope John Paul II had accepted Law's resignation as Archbishop and reassigned him to an administrative position in the Roman Curia and named him archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Cardinal Law later presided at one of the Pope's funeral masses.
Bishop Séan P. O'Malley, the Capuchin friar who replaced Law as archbishop, was forced to sell a good deal of valuable real estate and to close a number of churches in order to pay $120,000,000 in claims against the archdiocese.


Compensation payouts

In December 2006 the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (Roger Cardinal Mahony) agreed to payout of 60 million dollars to settle 45 of the over 500 cases pending concerning abuse by priests.[35]

Bankruptcy

Citing monetary concerns arising from impending trials on sex abuse claims, the Archdiocese of Portland (Oregon) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 6, 2004, hours before two abuse trials were set to begin, becoming the first Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy. If granted, bankruptcy would mean pending and future lawsuits would be settled in federal bankruptcy court. The archdiocese had settled more than one hundred previous claims for a sum of over $53 million. The filing seeks to protect parish assets, school money and trust funds from abuse victims: the archdiocese's contention is that parish assets are not the archdiocese's assets. Plaintiffs in the cases against the archdiocese have argued that the Catholic church is a single entity, and that the Vatican should be liable for any damages awarded in judgment of pending sexual abuse cases.

The Diocese of Tucson likewise filed bankruptcy in September, 2004, as has the Diocese of Spokane in December of that year. The Diocese of Tucson reached an agreement with its victims, which the bankruptcy judge approved June 11, 2005, specifying terms that included allowing the diocese reorganization to continue in return for a $22.2 million settlement. The diocese of Spokane in Washington as part of its bankruptcy has agreed to pay at least 48 million dollars as compensation to people abused by priests. This payout has to be agreed with by the victims and another Judge before it will be made.[36]

On October 10 2006, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport also filed for Chapter 11 protection. [37] The decision to file for bankruptcy was being driven by many claims which focus on Bishop Lawrence Soens, who has been accused of fondling as many as 15 students during his tenure as priest and principal at Regina Catholic High School in Iowa City during the 1960s. Soens denies the allegations. A judge discharged one suit in October 2006.[38]

On February 27 2007, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego also filed for Chapter 11 protection, hours before the first of about 150 lawsuits was due to be heard. San Diego became the largest diocese to postpone its legal problems in this way.[39]

Specific Dioceses

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

File:Jp2presidentarroyocardinallaw.jpg
On Thursday, April 7, 2005, Bernard Francis Cardinal Law leads Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, president of the Philippines, into the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome to attend a Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of the late Pope John Paul II. The Philippines has the largest Roman Catholic population in Asia. (Photo by Luca Bruno.)
  • Allegations of sexual misconduct by priests of the Archdiocese of Boston, and following revelations of a cover-up engineered in large part by the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, became widespread causing Roman Catholics in other dioceses of the United States to investigate similar situations. Cardinal Law's actions prompted public scrutiny of all members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the steps they've taken in response to past and current allegations of sexual misconduct by priests. The events in the Archdiocese of Boston exploded into a national Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.
  • Grassroots public advocacy groups like Voice of the Faithful hounded Cardinal Law after documents revealed his alleged role in covering up incidents of sexual misconduct of priests. For example, during Cardinal Law's tenure Fathers Paul Shanley and John Geoghan were moved from parish to parish within the diocese despite repeated allegations of molestation of children under the priest's care. Later, it was discovered that Father Shanley advocated the North American Man-Boy Love Association. The defense he provided was "failure to keep proper records". The cardinal said his practice was to seek the analysis of psychiatrists, clinicians, and therapists in residential treatment centers before deciding whether a priest accused of sexually abusing a child should be returned to the pulpit.
  • Current settlements in the Boston, Massachusetts suits could reach up to $100 million. In some cases insurance companies have balked at meeting the cost of large settlements, claiming the actions were deliberate and not covered by insurance. This was additional financial damage to the Archdiocese already faced with the need to consolidate and close parishes due to changing attendance and giving patterns. In June of 2004, much of the land around the archdiocese of Boston headquarters was sold to Boston College, in part to raise money for legal costs accociated with scandal in Boston. [40] [41]

Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas

  • In 1997 a jury awarded $120 million to victims in a sex abuse case against the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, Texas. The transcript of this trial is 9,000 pages. 3,000 of those pages have been edited by five volunteers to remove the names of victims to protect them and their families. These pages have been posted online at http://www.wearethechurch.org/kos/. They include the testimony under oath of Bishop Charles Grahmann where he admitted to never having taken the time to read the personnel file on Fr. Kos. This included the four-year history of allegations before he came to Dallas and the allegations that continued after he was bishop. Around April 1992, a child abuse expert who only knew a small part of this documented history declared Rev. Kos to be a "textbook pedophile." Bishop Grahmann still did not read the record and allowed Rev. Kos to have access to children for almost one full year more. The last documented incident of abuse was 11 months later.

Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport

  • On October 10 2006, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport filed for Chapter 11 protection [42]. The decision to file for bankruptcy was being driven by many claims which focus on Bishop Lawrence Soens, who has been accused of fondling as many as 15 students during his tenure as priest and principal at Regina Catholic High School in Iowa City during the 1960s. Soens denies the allegations. A judge discharged one suit in October 2006.[43]

Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu

File:Josephanthonyferrario.jpg
Bishop Joseph Anthony Ferrario

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles

File:Deliver Us From Evil.jpg
Movie poster for Deliver Us From Evil
  • The archdiocese agreed to payout 60 million dollars to settle 45 lawsuits it still faces over 450 other pending cases. According to the Associated Press a total of 22 priests were involved in the settlement with cases going as far back as the 1930s. [44] 20 million dollars of this was paid by the insurers of the archdiocese. The main administrative office of the archdiocese is due to be sold to cover the cost of these and future law suits. The archdiocese will settle about 500 cases for about $600 million.[45]
  • The 2006 documentary Deliver Us From Evil is based on accusations that the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony, knew that Oliver O'Grady, a priest who sexually abused children, including a 9-month-old baby, in a string of Central California towns for 20 years, was a sexual abuser but failed to keep him away from children. In 1984, a Stockton police investigation into sexual abuse allegations against O'Grady was reportedly closed after diocesan officials promised to remove the priest from any contact with children. Instead, he was reassigned to a parish about 50 miles east, in San Andreas, where he continued to molest children. Not long after, Mahony was promoted to archbishop of Los Angeles, the largest Catholic diocese in the country. In Deliver Us From Evil, O'Grady says Mahony was "very supportive and very compassionate and that another situation had been smoothly handled". Mahony denies knowing that O’Grady was a child molester. [46]
  • Mahony has worked extensively to prevent or impede investigations of sexual abuse by priests. He appealed one attempt to gain access to church documents relating to sexual abuse all the way to the Supreme Court [47]. According to legal experts [48] this case fit a pattern where church authorities have attempted to prevent the release of documents on First Amendment or other constitutional grounds.

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville

  • Fr. Louis Miller, Louisville, Kentucky, United States. On March 31, 2003, Rev. Miller pled guilty to 44 counts of "indecent or immoral acts" and six charges of first degree sexual abuse, relating to incidents involving at least 21 children between 1957 and 1982. Miller also pled guilty to 14 further charges in Oldham County, Kentucky. Miller was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on the Louisville convictions. The Archdiocese of Louisville made a $25.7 million settlement involving 243 victims of sexual abuse, which was approved by a Louisville court on August 1, 2003.

Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix

  • On November 21, 2005, Monsignor Dale Fushek was arrested and charged with 10 criminal misdemeanor counts related to alleged inappropriate sexual contact with teens and young adults.[49] Maricopa County Prosecutors have not ruled out the possibility of more serious charges.[50]
  • Also in November of 2005 Fr. Paul LeBrun was found guilty of six counts in the sexual abuse of boys when he was stationed in the West Valley.[51] [52]
  • Fr. Joseph Briceno fled to Mexico and was later captured and charged with one count of sexual abuse, six counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of attempted sexual conduct with a minor. [53] [54]
  • In December of 2006 the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix agreed to pay $100,000 to William Cesolini who claimed he was ad been sexually assaulted as a teenager by a priest, Mark Lehman, and a former teen minister, Phil Baniewicz, at a Mesa church. Monsignor Dale Fushek, who was pastor of that parish and co-founded Life Teen, the nation's largest Catholic youth ministry with Baniewicz, was accused in the suit of giving alcohol to the teen and then watching Lehman sexually abuse Cesolini. [55]
The secrecy, the obstruction that I saw during my investigation was unparallelled in my entire career here as a prosecutor in Phoenix, Arizona. It was so difficult to obtain any information from the Church at all. In fact, we knew of certain meetings that had taken place, and yet no documentation was ever produced to be able to show that that meeting had even occurred. You know, when we started looking at it, it was really interesting. We came across in the Canons for the Church there are supposed to be secret archives where this information is to be kept, and not given to the civil authorities, no matter what the circumstances. There was an instruction from the Nunzio, because of his ambassador status, to shift all of this incriminating information to him, because under the law we could not subpoena that information from him, because of his ambassador status. I think that is really the story — the Church's failure to acknowledge such a problem, but not just a passiveness, it was in an openly obstructive way of not allowing civil authorities to stop the abuse within the Church. They fought us every step of the way.[56]

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland

  • The extant of the Archdiocese's sex abuse scandal led the archdiocese to file for Chapter 11 reorganization on July 6, 2004, hours before two abuse trials were set to begin. Portland became the first Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy. An open letter to the archdiocese's parishioners explained the archbishop's motivation:
This is not an effort to avoid responsibility. It is, in fact, the only way I can assure that other claimants can be offered fair compensation. We have worked diligently to settle claims of clergy misconduct. In the last four years, we have settled more than 100 such claims. Last year alone the Archdiocese paid almost $21 million from its own funds. Major insurers have abandoned us and are not paying what they should on the claims.
Two cases are set for trials beginning today. One plaintiff seeks more than $130 million in compensatory and punitive damages, the other $25 million. We have made every effort to settle these claims fairly but the demand of each of these plaintiffs remains in the millions. I am committed to just compensation. These demands go beyond compensation. With 60 other claims pending, I cannot in justice and prudence pay the demands of these two plaintiffs.
  • The archdiocese had settled more than one hundred previous claims for a sum of over $53 million. The filing seeks to protect parish assets, school money and trust funds from abuse victims: the archdiocese's contention is that parish assets are not the archdiocese's assets. Plaintiffs in the cases against the archdiocese have argued that the Catholic church is a single entity, and that the Vatican should be liable for any damages awarded in judgment of pending sexual abuse cases.
  • After the filing, an April 29, 2005 deadline was set by the bankruptcy court to allow other people to file complaints. According to an October 2005 archbishop's column in the Catholic Sentinel, nearly 200 more claims of all kinds were filed as a result. That column also noted that the archdiocese has filed suit against insurance companies to compel them to contribute financially to the settlement expected to arise out of the reorganization.
  • A press release issued by the Archdiocese of Portland on April 17, 2007 announced a settlement plan had been reached and a bankruptcy court had approved a financial plan of reorganization.

Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego

  • On February 27 2007, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego filed for Chapter 11 protection, hours before the first of about 150 lawsuits was due to be heard. San Diego became the largest diocese to postpone its legal problems in this way.[57]

Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane

  • Under Bishop William S. Skylstad the diocese declared bankruptcy to protect it from claims of people abused by priests in December of 2004. The Diocese of Spokane as part of its bankruptcy has agreed to pay at least $48 million as compensation. This payout has to be agreed to by the victims and a Judge before it will be made. According to Federal Bankruptcy Judge Gregg W. Zive, money for the settlement would come from insurance companies, the sale of church property, contributions from Catholic groups and from the diocese's parishes.[58]

Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson

  • The Diocese of Tucson filed bankruptcy in September, 2004. The Diocese of Tucson reached an agreement with its victims, which the bankruptcy judge approved on June 11, 2005, specifying terms that included allowing the diocese reorganization to continue in return for a $22.2 million settlement.
  • Bishop Manuel Moreno resigned in 2003 because of accusations of the mishandling a local scandal and withholding information from authorities regarding priests accused of pedophilia. [59]

Outside of the U.S.

Australia

  • In 1992, the nonprofit organization Broken Rites was formed to help the victims of church-related sexual abuse in Australia. Though Broken Rights is non-denominational, approximately 90% of the victims that have contacted the organization have been from a Catholic Background. [60]
  • In June 2002, The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia, Sydney Archbishop George Pell temporarily "stood" aside from his post during an investigation into 40 year old allegations of child sexual abuse. [61] The allegations against Pell could not be proven or disproven due to the amount of time that had passed since the incident. [62] Pell accompanied Father Gerald Ridsdale to his 1993 trial and has been accused of covering the tracks of pedophiles in the Australian Priesthood. [63] Pell has publicly stated that he believes, "Abortion is a worse moral scandal than priests sexually abusing young people." [64]

Austria

File:Krenn.jpg
Kurt Krenn, Bishop Emeritus of Sankt Pölten in Austria
  • In 1995 Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër was forced into stepping down from being the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria due to accusations of sexual misconduct. In 1998 he went into exile. Though, disgraced, Groër remained a Cardinal in the Catholic Church. [66]
  • The St. Pölten pornography scandal occurred in 2004 within the seminary in St. Pölten. In late 2003, the body of a seminarian was found drifting in the Danube. In early 2004, police seized a computer in the seminary containing, according to police reports released on July 13, 2004, more than 40,000 pornographic pictures downloaded from the internet, many of them were classified as child pornography. A number of photographs have emerged in the Austrian media showing alleged sexual acts among seminarians and sometimes including the regens of the seminary, Ulrich Küchl, which were allegedly performed at a Christmas party. This led to the resignation of Bishop Emeritus Kurt Krenn whose policies regarding the administration of the seminary have been criticized as having been conducive to the scandal.

Brazil

  • Brazil is the world's largest Roman Catholic Country. A papal commission found 10 percent of Brazil's 1,700 priests to have been involved in sexual misconduct and 200 priests had been committed to psychological institutions for pedophilia between 2002 and 2005.

Canada

Czech Republic

  • In 2000 Fr. Frantisek Merta and Olomouc Bishop Jan Graubner were charged after allegations were made by a theology student, Vaclav Novak, that Merta had sexually abused altar boys since 1995. Novak persuaded a group of victims to come forward with their allegations against Merta. In 2001, Merta was found guilty of sexually abusing more than 20 boys and given a suspended sentence of two years. When he was a priest in Moravia, Archbishop Jan Graubner failed to report him. Instead, Graubner moved him from location to location whenever problems appeared. A book about Merta's child sexual abuse cases, Krici Hlasem Zrady (They Are Shouting the Voice of Betrayal), was published in March 2001 by Vaclav Novak. [73]

Ireland

Roman Catholic Diocese of Ferns

Main article: Ferns Report

The Ferns Inquiry 2005 - On 22 October 2005 a government-commissioned report compiled by a former Irish Supreme Court judge delivered an indictment of the handling of clerical sex abuse in the Irish diocese of Ferns. The report revealed over 100 cases of child sex abuse in the diocese, involving a number of clergymen, including Monsignor Micheál Ledwidth, the former head of the National Catholic seminary, Maynooth College.

Among the facts revealed were

  • The failure of Bishop Donal Herlihy to exclude clearly unsuitable candidates from the priesthood;
  • His failure to report incidents of proven sexual abuse to the legal authorities and his failure to acknowledge that abusers needed to be kept from children;
  • The failure of his successor, Brendan Comiskey, to report incidents of abuse and remove abusers from positions where they worked with children.

Among the cases revealed were

  • The rape of teenage girls² on the altar of a church by one priest;
  • The use of blackmail by another priest to force children to perform sex acts on him;

The report was also highly critical of the failure of the Garda Siochána (police) to properly investigate reported incidents. It noted with concern the disappearance of one police file detailing serious incidents of clerical sex abuse. It stated that the local health authorities failed to protect children even when aware of allegations.

Some survivors of abuse praised the actions of the new Apostolic Administrator (acting bishop) for instituting wholesale reforms, including the toughest anti-abuse rules in any diocese in the Catholic Church, and also his willingness to hand over all files and all information to the inquiry. Victims' spokesman and himself one of the victims of one of the abusers, Colm O'Gorman praised the administrator and compared his actions with the inaction and incompetence of his predecessors.[citation needed]

Between 1960 and 1980 the Diocese of Ferns treated child sexual abuse by priests exclusively as a moral problem. Priests against whom allegations had been made were transfered to a different post or a different diocese for a period of time but then returned them to their former position. The Irish government held an official inquiry into the allegations of clerical sexual abuse in the Irish Catholic Diocese ehich led to the Ferns Report. It identified more than 100 allegations of child sexual abuse made between 1962 and 2002 against twenty-one priests operating under the aegis of the Diocese of Ferns.

Multiple allegations of abuse were made against the following priests (those still alive have not been identified in the The Ferns Report):
These three are deceased:

Additional Material

  • Fr. Paul McGennis, Dublin, Ireland. He abused Marie Collins when as a 13-year-old she was in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in 1961. Collins was later told that McGennis had admitted abusing children. However the Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin, Desmond Connell, refused "on legal advice" to supply his file on McGennis to the Irish police. McGennis was nevertheless convicted and gaoled. Marie Collins subsequently received an apology from Cardinal Connell.

Mexico

File:Image- Marcial Maciel.jpeg
Marcial Maciel Degollado
  • Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ, a Catholic order of priests originating in Mexico. Nine former seminarians of his order accused Maciel of molestation.[75] One retracted his accusation, saying that it was a plot intended to discredit the Legion. Maciel has maintained his innocence of the accusations. In early December 2004, a few months before Pope John Paul II's death, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who would replace him as Pope, becoming Benedict XVI) reopened a Vatican investigation into longstanding allegations against Maciel.[76] Father Maciel then declined to be elected again as general director of the Legion on 20 January 2005 at the order's annual meeting; a spokesman denied that this decision was related to the investigation. On 19 May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI ordered 86-year-old Father Marcial Maciel to give up his ministry and retire to a life of "prayer and repentance." A Vatican statement said that he had only escaped a full trial in an ecclesiastical court because of his "advanced age [and] frail health."[77] The statement noted that the sanctions had been personally endorsed by the Pope. Commentators said that this was a clear departure from the timorous policy of Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, and appeared to be a first step toward fulfilling the new pontiff's vow to sweep "filth" from the church.

Philippines

  • In 2002 the Catholic Church apologized for sexual abuse by hundreds of priests over the previous 20 years. [78]
  • In 2003 at least 34 priests were suspended in a sex abuse scandal. 20 were from a single diocese.[79]

Abuse in literature

A number of books have been written, see Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in fiction, about the abuse suffered from priests and nuns including Andrew Madden in Altar Boy: A Story of Life After Abuse, Carolyn Lehman's Strong at the Heart: How it feels to heal from sexual abuse and the bestselling Kathy's Story by Kathy O'Beirne which details physical and sexual abuse suffered in a Magdalene laundry in Ireland. However grave doubts have been expressed about the authenticity of the latter book.[80] The Magdalen laundries caught the public's attention in the late 1990s as revelations of widespread abuse from former inmates gathered momentum and were made the subject an award-winning film called The Magdalene Sisters (2002). In 2006, a documentary called Deliver Us From Evil was made about the sex abuse cases and one priest's confession of abuse.

References

  1. ^ http://www.bishop-accountability.org/reports/2004_02_27_JohnJay/index.html
  2. ^ George Weigel, The Courage To Be Catholic (Basic Books, 2002), ISBN 0-465-09261-6 p47
  3. ^ George Weigel, The Courage To Be Catholic (Basic Books, 2002). ISBN 0-465-09261-6 p48
  4. ^ for example, see Rite of Sodomy by Randy Engel (1989); see Anne McGinn Cillis's review at: http://www.riteofsodomy.com/reviews/cillis.mht (accessed 11 October 2006)
  5. ^ George Weigel, The Courage To Be Catholic (Basic Books, 2002). ISBN 0-465-09261-6 Page 61
  6. ^ http://www.catholicleague.org/research/abuse_in_social_context.htm
  7. ^ http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/misconductreview/report.pdf
  8. ^ Philip Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis (Oxford University Press, 2001). ISBN 0-19-514597-6
  9. ^ http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20010518_epistula_graviora%20delicta_lt.html
  10. ^ Michael Burleigh, Sacred Causes (HarperPress, 2006)
  11. ^ Evans, Richard J. "The Third Reich in Power" ISBN 0-713-99649-8 page 244-245
  12. ^ http://www.courtroomlaw.com/news_vatican.shtml
  13. ^ George Weigel, The Courage To Be Catholic (Basic Books, 2002). ISBN 0-465-09261-6
  14. ^ George Weigel, The Courage To Be Catholic (Basic Books, 2002). ISBN 0-465-09261-6 p36
  15. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_n15_v34/ai_20324598 retrieved on July 6, 2007
  16. ^ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1152801/posts?page=1
  17. ^ Indeed an estimate in Protestant clergy of 2 to 3 percent was made Lloyd Rediger, Ministry and Sexuality (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990). p55
  18. ^ Philip Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis (Oxford University Press, 2001). p50
  19. ^ The Bingo Report, pub. CSRI Books, 2005, ISBN 0-9770402-0-8
  20. ^ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MKY/is_19_29/ai_n15952173#continue
  21. ^ http://www.rentapriest.com/web/docs/NFPC-Ch01.pdf
  22. ^ http://www.rentapriest.com/web/?_p=1001
  23. ^ Philip Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis (Oxford University Press, 2001). p81
  24. ^ http://www.post-gazette.com/forum/comm/20020303edjenk03p6.asp
  25. ^ Philip Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis (Oxford University Press, 2001). ISBN 0-19-514597-6
  26. ^ http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2389.htm
  27. ^ Hundreds of priests shuffled worldwide, despite abuse allegations
  28. ^ House of the Accused.When priests within the Salesian order based in San Francisco were accused of sex abuse, the leaders chose to keep quiet
  29. ^ Vatican sued in sex abuse cases
  30. ^ Troubled Order
  31. ^ Abuse. International investigation implicates Salesians/Australia
  32. ^ http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/spe/2004/runawaypriests
  33. ^ http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/00882888.htm
  34. ^ http://www.beliefnet.com/story/108/story_10824_1.html
  35. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6200882.stm
  36. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6232947.stm
  37. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/10/national/main2079538.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._2079538
  38. ^ http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=EBFBFD11-0458-42B8-A37CA7389CCE932A
  39. ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070228-9999-7n28diocese.html
  40. ^ http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories5/042104_sale.htm
  41. ^ http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories5/042104_statement.htm
  42. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/10/national/main2079538.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._2079538
  43. ^ http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=EBFBFD11-0458-42B8-A37CA7389CCE932A
  44. ^ LA diocese settles abuse claims 1 December 2006
  45. ^ LA church to pay $600M for clergy abuse July 14, 2007
  46. ^ http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/25/DDGDQLUMCM1.DTL
  47. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/18/washington/18church.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
  48. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/18/washington/18church.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
  49. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/11/21/priest.arrested.ap/index.html
  50. ^ http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1121PriestArrested21-ON.html
  51. ^ http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2005_07_12/2005_11_17_Walsh_PriestConvicted.htm
  52. ^ http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/111805a1_churchabuse
  53. ^ http://rickross.net/reference/clergy/clergy613.html
  54. ^ http://www.westvalleyview.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=20317
  55. ^ http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2006/11_12/2006_12_27_AP_CatholicDiocese.htm
  56. ^ http://www.catholicsexabuse.com/
  57. ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070228-9999-7n28diocese.html
  58. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6232947.stm
  59. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_7_120/ai_99988491
  60. ^ http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/
  61. ^ Australian archbishop steps aside
  62. ^ http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/14/1034561097748.html
  63. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/06/01/1022569845430.html
  64. ^ http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/02/aug/4/01.html
  65. ^ http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/garyhughes/index.php/news/comments/catholic_sex_abuse_extradition_battle/
  66. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/78503.stm
  67. ^ http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/4584/54/
  68. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_7_42/ai_n15969578
  69. ^ http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/integrity2.htm
  70. ^ http://www.library.mun.ca/qeii/cns/archives/exhibits.php
  71. ^ http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2002/just/1213n07.htm
  72. ^ http://www.nopedo.org/english/pages/actualite12.html
  73. ^ http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2003/Art/0402/news7.php
  74. ^ http://www.bishop-accountability.org/ferns/
  75. ^ http://www.regainnetwork.org/category.php?c=245671635
  76. ^ http://www.rickross.com/reference/loc/loc46.html
  77. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1779335,00.html
  78. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2116154.stm
  79. ^ http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=24828
  80. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/en_nm/arts_ireland_memoir_dc_1

See also

Roman Catholic priests accused of sex offenses

General

Ireland

United States

Additional reading

  • Philip Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis (Oxford University Press, 2001). ISBN 0-19-514597-6.
  • Lobdell, William, Missionary's Dark Legacy; Two remote Alaska villages are still reeling from a Catholic volunteer's sojourn three decades ago, when he allegedly molested nearly every Eskimo boy in the parishes. The accusers, now men, are scarred emotionally and struggle to cope. They are seeking justice., Los Angeles Times, Nov 19, 2005, p. A.1
  • Rose, Michael S., Goodbye, Good Men : How Liberals Brought Corruption Into the Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, Inc. (June 25, 2002). ISBN 0-89526-144-8 Reviewed here
  • F. Benedikt Groeschel, From Scandal to Hope (OSV, 2002)
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