ISSUE
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WINTER 2018–2019
CRISIS OF THE FAITHFUL
IN THE SUMMER OF 2018, A FLOOD OF MEDIA REPORTS appeared concerning sexual abuse of minors and young people by Catholic clergy in the United States. Almost all of these reports concerned assaults that occurred before 2002, when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (also called the Dallas Charter). Nevertheless, some deeply troubling new details emerged concerning cover-ups and lack of accountability as well as information about abuse of seminarians.
American Catholics have entered a period of deep soul-searching. Many feel grief-stricken and want a clear demonstration from Church leaders that meaningful steps are being taken to right wrongs, prevent future abuse and rethink the relationship between the Church and the faithful.
On the following pages, we ask Fr. Daniel Kearney, pastor of Manhattan’s Church of the Ascension, to give us a parish priest’s perspective, and Sr. Eileen Clifford, the victim assistance coordinator for the Archdiocese of New York, to explain what happens when an abuse survivor makes a report.
STRENGTHENING PROTOCOLSIn September 2018, Cardinal Dolan held a press conference at which he announced the appointment of Judge Barbara Jones as Special Counsel and Independent Reviewer for the Archdiocese of New York, and asked her to do an exhaustive study of archdiocesan policies, procedures and protocols regarding allegations of clerical abuse of young persons. The cardinal also detailed many of the archdiocese’s existing policies, among them “reporting all cases to the DA, [commissioning of] outside investigations, referral to our independent lay review board, and ‘zero tolerance’ of guilty priests, with their names published.” He indicated that Jones would be working beyond the issue of abuse of minors to “enhance and strengthen our protocols for accusations of inappropriate behavior by anyone abusing his or her position of authority.” (The full text of the cardinal’s remarks, along with a detailed overview of the archdiocese’s response to this issue since 1993, is available at cardinaldolan.org/index.php/category/blog.)
REBUILDING TRUST
An interview with Fr. Daniel KearnyArchways: In 2002, the Dallas Charter laid out new practices to end the plague of clerical abuse of minors. Why are we having a second crisis?
Fr. Kearney: By and large, the focus of the current scandal is that there were still people in leadership positions who continued the secrecy and the cover-ups of pre-2002 cases – and in a few instances, post-2002 cases – after the Dallas Charter came out. This should never have happened.
AW: Priests today must feel like they are under a microscope. Is there any way to get past this?
FK: It’s frustrating, it’s difficult, it’s almost humiliating, because so many of the problems that have come up in recent months were created by leadership. No one’s perfect. Priests, cardinals, bishops have done horrible things. And I pray that this will never be repeated. But we also need to live in the present moment. We need to move forward.
AW: Was there too much deference accorded to priests in the past?
FK: There absolutely was and there still is, even after all that has happened. Clericalism – holding priests up above others – has been one of the great sins of the Church. You know, I’m no different than you. When I walk out of church on Sunday morning I want people to be respectful, but it’s the same respect that I’m giving to them. I would hold myself equal to my people rather than being above them. We all received a high calling at baptism, and we’re all trying to live up to that. Doesn’t matter if you’re a priest, doctor, candlestick maker, whatever you are – if we’re trying to live the Gospel seriously, that’s a high calling.
AW: What have we learned from the errors of the past?
FK: Obviously we haven’t learned as much as we should have or we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in right now. Parishioners are saying to me, “The bishops have lost their moral authority. The only way they’re going to get it back is by looking at themselves honestly and saying, ‘Where have we failed? What do we do to regain the people’s trust?’” What I’m hearing from people is that the secrecy must end. There has to be transparency.
AW: Looking ahead from the present moment, what will be the state of the Church one, two, five years from today? If we achieve a good outcome, what will we have done to get there?
FK: I can’t envision how we could allow ourselves to move forward without some kind of change. A couple of the bishops from the USCCB have talked about the need to have a lay supervisory board over the bishops – concerning overall Church governance, not just sexual abuse. My parishioners are saying this as well: that there has to be another level of transparency, oversight. And it has to include lay people, and it has to include women. I do believe that God’s spirit is very much present in the world and in the Church, and if His spirit can move the bishops to be open to this extra layer of accountability, that could be really positive as we move into the future.
AW: Many Catholics are engaged in critically important work – running shelters, food pantries, health-care facilities ... the list is very long. What do we lose if a lot of good people walk away?
FK: I have parishioners who tell me that the reason they belong to Ascension is because we have so many outreach programs for the vulnerable. For those parishioners, that’s the Gospel message, to care for those who are the least among us, and they’re going to keep doing it, regardless of what a bishop is saying or not saying. We will lose some members if things don’t change. But the people doing the volunteering are the ones who get that this is what being a person of faith is all about, and I don’t think they’re going anywhere. This is what we do. We feed the poor, we house the homeless, we shelter people.
AW: What would you say to Catholics who are considering leaving the Church?
FK: I completely get why some would consider that. I can’t say there haven’t been times I’ve thought the same thing. But if someone gets food poisoning, they don’t stop eating food. The reason to remain in the Church is to be present with Christ in the communal setting and to receive the Eucharist. Priests and bishops come and go. What remains the same is Christ’s message of love.
SUPPORTING SURVIVORS
An interview with Sr. Eileen CliffordArchways: What happens when someone reports abuse of a minor to the archdiocese?
Sr. Eileen Clifford: When someone contacts the archdiocese to report that they were sexually abused by a member of the clergy, they may contact the office by phone, email or postal mail, but I always respond immediately and try to speak with them directly. I listen to their story and I offer to meet with them.
We ask the victim-survivor for a signed statement of what happened. That’s difficult for them. It’s hard enough for them to contact us in the first place because it means they have to go back and remember what happened to them, which many times a person will have worked hard not to think about for years.
AW: Who investigates the allegations?
SEC: We ask the victim-survivor to call the district attorney in the jurisdiction where the abuse took place – I provide them with the name and telephone number. At the same time, we let them know that the archdiocese always informs the DA of any allegations of clerical abuse of a minor in their jurisdiction.
When the office of the DA has completed its investigation, the archdiocese then starts its own inquiry. For impartiality, we use a third-party service, whose investigators are mostly former FBI agents, to interview the victim-survivor and conduct a follow-up investigation. We do an in-house inquiry as well. The results of these investigations go to the members of the Advisory Review Board, who read and discuss the reports and then make a recommendation to the cardinal. If the charges are credible and substantiated, the accused will be removed from ministry. In addition, the district attorney may pursue a criminal prosecution.
AW: What support does the archdiocese offer to the survivor and their families?
SEC: There are consequences to abuse, not only for the victim-survivor, but also for their parents, spouses, children and other loved ones, that can play out for decades after the abuse has ended. Many terrible things can happen: substance abuse, marital problems, even suicide. We offer referrals to outside counseling services and pastoral services to help survivors and their families deal with the emotional and psychological repercussions of what occurred, and the archdiocese pays for the treatment.
While money can never right these wrongs or make the pain go away, many victim-survivors are also eligible for a financial settlement from the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program. For the record, the money for this program doesn’t come out of your charitable contributions to your parish or the Cardinal’s Annual Stewardship Appeal; it comes from a long-term loan leveraging archdiocesan assets.
AW: Is this problem ever going to get better?
SEC: I’ve been doing this work since 2002, when the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Since then, I have sadly received a great number of reports of abuse from 2002 and earlier, but thankfully allegations of clerical abuse occurring in the archdiocese after the adoption of the charter have been extremely rare. This does not alleviate the deep pain and outrage caused by the terrible abuse that occurred prior to that time, but it does signal that, if we remain watchful, we can effectively eliminate this evil and keep children safe now and in the future.
To report sexual abuse by a priest, bishop or deacon, please contact Sr. Eileen Clifford at 646-794-2949, or by emailing [email protected]. Complaints may also be submitted online at archny.org or via U.S. mail to Victims Assistance Coordinator, 1011 First Avenue, New York, NY 10022, in a sealed envelope clearly marked CONFIDENTIAL.
