Over the last two decades, I’ve witnessed various responses to the priest abuse crisis by the American bishops. Initially, they flat out denied the crisis and attacked the “Catholic bashers”. From there, I saw the bishops say that they had no idea that such priest would continue to abuse. They didn’t have the psychological data to deal with the crisis. (This in spite of documents that have come to light from the Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico stating otherwise.) Then they blamed the lawyers and told the faithful that the lawyers were going to bankrupt the Church and one diocese after another filed bankruptcy. The latest public relations message spun by the bishops is “the crisis is now over. What happened in the past, is the past, we’re ready to move forward.” Throughout all of these public relations permutations, we never heard about concern for the victims and survivors of sexual abuse. The majority of Catholic bishops in this country have never moved away from what they perceive as their first duty: protect the institution at all costs. Even Archbishop Wilton Gregory, whom many considered to be a reformer, has been caught in the web of coverup this past week by an Illinois jury. It’s disheartening to say the least to see that not much has changed.
Even with Pope Benedict’s pastoral visit to the United States earlier this year, the words were nice but talk is cheap. The bishops haven’t budged. It’s hard to know if Benedict’s words were just a “wink and a nod” to the public relations machine. Either the bishops have ignored him and his words or they knew something we didn’t. His words were hollow and nothing changes.
Priest Sex Abuse Advocate