Every morning, when I open the newspaper, I brace for yet another article about the ongoing clergy sex abuse scandal. Ever since the Grand Jury Report was published in mid-August, it seems that the media has made it a point to feature an article about this terrible scourge almost every day. It is, indeed, a time of great sadness and confusion in our Church. I encourage you to join me in prayer for those who have been sexually abused.
When John Carroll was appointed the first bishop in the newly-formed United States of America in 1789, he had slaves running his household. Of course, so did George Washington, Ben Franklin and most, if not all of the leaders of our nascent nation. When the Jesuits founded Georgetown University that same year, slaves worked their plantations to fund the new university. It wasn’t until almost a century later, after a long struggle and even a war that almost destroyed our land, that slavery was finally expelled from our country.
I would like to invite you to reflect on the current tragic situation in light of our nation’s struggle with slavery. Just as slavery was part of the culture until the 1860’s, sexual abuse has been part of our culture – and, sadly, of many nations – for a very long time. And, we need to address it, just as our forefathers addressed slavery so many years ago. The recent Grand Jury report found incidences of sexual abuse going back as far as 70 years ago. There have been no unreported incidences since 1998, however, since the Church had begun to seriously address the situation. In 2005, the United States bishops promulgated a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People; it was the first of its kind in the country and has been used as a model by many states and school districts around the nation. Well before our public schools required background checks and fingerprinting, we have been requiring such assurances that our children and youth are safe. I remember how upset I felt when I returned to parish ministry in 2001 (after spending 15 years working in various Archdiocesan offices and teaching at Immaculata College) and the pastor of the parish where I was assigned told me that I had to get fingerprinted and attend an Archdiocesan Safe Environment program. I had already been a priest for 23 years and hadn’t had to do this before; it felt like an assault on my integrity. These requirements were new then; they are standard practice today. And now, we all embrace a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of abuse.
Despite the picture the secular media paints for us, sexual abuse is not rampant among the clergy, nor is there a crisis of pedophilia or homosexuality in the Church. All serious studies indicate that the incidences of sexual abuse, pedophilia and homosexuality are no higher among Catholic clergy than in the general population. The crisis is sexual abuse in all sectors of society, not only here in America, but around the world. As an article by Meredith Edelman in the 9 September 2018 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer pointed out so well – and we see in the news almost daily – there are reports of sexual abuse of children and young people and ensuing cover-ups in scouting, youth sports, public and private schools, colleges and universities, the military, hospitals and juvenile and immigrant detention facilities. And, recent studies show that the greatest incidence of such abuse occurs in homes. In fact, the latest studies report that 25% of all women and 16% of all men in America admit to having been sexually abused before the age of 18, mostly by family members. As painful as it is for us Catholics who are enduring a barrage of reports about sexual abuse and cover-ups in our Church, I see this as an opportunity to face this scourge that is found throughout all sectors of our society and take the lead to wipe it out. As Meredith Edelman recommends in her article, we should examine how Australia has addressed this issue in recent years. Australia’s government appointed a Royal Commission to conduct a comprehensive investigation into child sexual abuse in institutional settings throughout the country. I think we should follow this example and then, as was done in Australia, institute an across-the-board redress plan to provide support, access to counseling and compensatory payments for the victims.
And, as we address this scourge in our society, I invite you to reflect on an even greater one. Under the guise of women’s rights, our culture has accepted abortion and even legalized it. Just as our forefathers didn’t recognize Africans as human beings, with equal rights that all human beings share, millions of our fellow Americans – even fellow Catholics – still fail to recognize the scientifically proven fact that, at the moment of conception, an infant is a unique human being – distinct from his/her mother – who should be given the same right to life that God gives to all human beings. Subsequently, thousands of our most vulnerable children – those still in their mother’s wombs – are being abused every year in the most serious way: being murdered even before they are even born.
But, lest you think I am trying to distract you from the scandal at hand, I invite you to reflect on what George Weigel wrote recently; his article appeared in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, 1 September, and I referred to it last week, as well. He wrote:
Much as I share the anger and disgust of my fellow Catholics over what has surfaced these past months, I’d suggest that those imagining themselves in a crisis of faith that they’re experiencing something different: a challenge to understand what the Church really is. As the Second Vatican Council taught in the first sentence of its most important document, the Church, first and foremost, is about Jesus Christ, the “light of the nations.” Catholics trust Jesus Christ; trust in the institutions of the Church follows from that. And when trust in the Church as an institution is broken – as it has been so many times over two millennia – it’s important to refocus on the basis of Catholic faith, which is trust in Jesus Christ.
This is, in fact, a very old story. Catholics at Mass on August 26 were reminded of it in the Gospel reading they heard. Although it was prescribed for that Sunday by an accident of the Church’s triennial cycle of scripture readings, it seemed remarkably germane to the present moment. At the end of the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus has caused a furor among his first followers by declaring himself the “bread of life,” on which his friends and disciples must feed. Many found this a “hard saying,” left the itinerant rabbi from Nazareth and “returned to their former way of life.” Jesus then turns to his closest companions, the Twelve, and asks, “Do you also want to leave?” Peter answers in two sentences that every outraged or embittered Catholic today should pause and ponder: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
That conviction is the reason to be a Catholic, the reason to stay a Catholic and the reason to bend every effort to reform the Church as an institution, so that it can be a credible witness to the Lord who offers communion with God and words of eternal life.
Mr. Weigel concludes his article with these words that I offer for your prayerful reflection:
Throughout the world today, the living parts of the Catholic Church are those where people have embraced Catholic teaching in full and have grasped that being a faithful Catholic means offering others the gift they have been given – friendship with Jesus Christ. These Catholics, who have been stirred to protest but have not been shaken in their faith, are those who will affect the reform the Church needs. …Happily, those Catholics exist in considerable numbers. This is their moment.
I’m praying that, as you read this reflection, you identify yourself as one of these Catholics and will join me in re-forming the Church right here in our midst. At the same time, I pray that everyone will recognize the sexual abuse crisis for what it is – a national and, in fact, an international crisis – and work to abolish it just as our forefathers abolished slavery and we need to continue to work to abolish abortion. May the Spirit of God lead and guide us at this very important moment for the Church and our nation. And, let’s all continue to pray for all victims of sexual abuse – that they may find healing from their terrible suffering.