Enablers' Row

As described by Philly commentor Gerard E., noting this story in today's Philadelphia paper:

Though Krol is dead and Bevilacqua retired, many lesser-known administrators - "enablers" who helped craft the subterfuges or carry them out, according to the grand jury - remain in church posts around the region. Some are pastors. Two are bishops. All remain in good standing, with sanctions against them unlikely.

One is said to have issued instructions to never tell people with abuse complaints that their accusations were believed, according to the report. Today, he is the bishop of Allentown.

Another learned in 2002 that a child-molesting priest had surfaced as a teacher in a local public school, and alerted no one. In 2004, that official was consecrated as an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese.

A third arranged the transfer of an abuser priest to an outlying area where "his scandalous action may not be known." Today, that now-retired administrator lives in a large parish in Yardley, where he regularly says Mass and gives homilies.

The public uproar over the massive report targeted Krol, Bevilacqua, and, to an extent, Bevilacqua's top lieutenant, Msgr. William Lynn. But the names of other officials run through the report as well, all implicated in a variety of actions or inactions in response to abuse complaints.

It's the way the system works. Or has.  Radically and courageously following Christ is not important to Church bureaucrats. If it were, they wouldn't be Church bureaucrats, after all. What has been important is maintaining image: maintaining the institution's image, as well as the image of individual priests. Not only maintaining the image of those priests, but keeping their egos intact and, dare we say, keeping them quiet. We can only hope that the price paid now has been high enough that this is changing. Judging from the continued obfuscations and self-justifying cries emanating from both coasts, it doesn't seem as if the lesson has been learned quite yet.

(There are a number of links on the left of that story to individual cases of enabling and secrecy).

On an another, cheerier note, do read this story about one of the DA's who was on the task force. God writing straight with crooked lines, indeed:

Spade grew up in a devotedly religious Lutheran household. There was weekly mass, Sunday school and the altar boy guild. The investigation had a surprising effect on Spade's faith.

"It reaffirmed that general idea that power corrupts," he says, "but in talking to so many Catholic priests and theologians and having to read Cannon Law, I actually became drawn to Catholicism."

He began attending Catholic mass.

Comments

[John J. Simmins]

I'm sure I'm going to get slaughtered for this but I've heard many, many good things about Bevilacqua. He seems to have taken the time to personally minister to many of his flock. I can also recall glowing things said about him on at least two conversion tapes I have. This scandal is multi-faceted and deserves more that the sweeping condemnations and simplistic answers that have been tossed about. It's about sin, cronyism, inertia, hero worship, society's influence and much more than I can describe on a coffee break.

[Marion (Mael Muire)]

"Radically and courageously following Christ is not important to Church bureaucrats. If it were, they wouldn't be Church bureaucrats, after all."

Oh, Amy! May we not hope that God in His mercy would indeed provide the Church with servants who perform the work of the bureaucracy while striving to follow Him in all things?

Isn't it when that bureaucracy becomes, to those running it, an end in itself that matters begin to unravel?

[amy]

Marion, it's the system. The system does not like people who stand out. It selects them out. The system likes yes-men - yes to the system, not to God. God can work through anything, of course, but you do not get appointed chancellor of a diocese by pointing out the flaws in the bishop's ministry.

[Marion (Mael Muire)]

I see what you mean, Amy.

Saint Therese of Lisieux's special dedication to prayer on behalf of priests (and bishops) may be needed in our own day more than ever.

[Seamus]

"Cannon Law"? Is that a branch of military law?

[Fr. Shawn O'Neal]

Amy:

In some cases, priests are made bureaucrats for the sake of placing wild-card priests in a contained environment in an effort to help them conform better to the system.

For many decades, chancery officials were placed on the fast track to episcopal appointment. Their spot has been taken over during the past decade by rectors/presidents of seminaries, but there are exceptions here and there.

Another sign of the old fast track was that of seminarians assigned to theological study or advanced degree study in Rome. A significant reason for being sent there was to learn how the system worked because that seminarians would be groomed to be part of it in due time. It might still hold true today; it might not, but a significant public opinion remains that men are not sent to Rome to remain forever in podunk parishes.

[Gerard E.]

Great post, Amy. CP's rival, Phila. Weekly, has been particularly hardhitting on the archdiocese while praising D.A. Abraham and the grand jury. To its credit. And to this D.A.'s credit. Just as the movie version of DVC- will get people turned around and headed for their nearest Catholic church. The season of judgment has come. And it starts at the House of God.

[Gerard E.]

Great post, Amy. CP's rival, Phila. Weekly, has been particularly hardhitting on the archdiocese while praising D.A. Abraham and the grand jury. To its credit. And to this D.A.'s credit. Just as the movie version of DVC- will get people turned around and headed for their nearest Catholic church. The season of judgment has come. And it starts at the House of God.

[Gerard E.]

Great post, Amy. CP's rival, Phila. Weekly, has been particularly hardhitting on the archdiocese while praising D.A. Abraham and the grand jury. To its credit. And to this D.A.'s credit. Just as the movie version of DVC- will get people turned around and headed for their nearest Catholic church. The season of judgment has come. And it starts at the House of God.

[MaureenM]

For some reason, I am reminded of the (now former) pastor of my parish who, when the parish school had been evacuated because the students and teachers were sick (turned out to be carbon monoxide) called the chancery before he called 911.

[MaureenM]

For some reason, I am reminded of the (now former) pastor of my parish who, when the parish school had been evacuated because the students and teachers were sick (turned out to be carbon monoxide) called the chancery before he called 911.

[MaureenM]

For some reason, I am reminded of the (now former) pastor of my parish who, when the parish school had been evacuated because the students and teachers were sick (turned out to be carbon monoxide) called the chancery before he called 911.

[Marion (Mael Muire)]

". . . men are not sent to Rome to remain forever in podunk parishes.

Hi, Father O'Neal, I thank God for at least one man who was so deficient in learning, especially in theology and Latin, that he was assigned to the hopelessly podunk parish of Ars . . . :)

[Fr. John]

It is almost impossible to be ordained if one is not an 'organization man.' Truly independent thought and action among seminarians is penalized, possibly for good reason. Our theology of ordination, that holds that once a priest always a priest, and therefore always a potential liability to the diocese, makes formators very cautious. After all, when a misbehaving cleric cannot be fired, there are very few real punishements that can be meted out. Better to make sure that they never will cause a fuss.

The sort of 'can do' attitude, and independence of spirit that typifies entepreneurs, some businessmen, is just bred out in the typical seminary environment.

[Joseph D'Hippolito]

What Amy, Fr. John and Fr. Shawn are saying is that, ultimately, the system views itself as God and demands the kind of complete subservience to it that God demands. How can this form of organization, of governance, do anything else but countermand and contradict the "'can do' attitude, and independence of spirit" that Christ and His disciples not only demonstrated personally but also asked fellow believers to demonstrate?

No wonder the Holy Spirit is stifled in such an environment.

And "orthodox" Catholics have the audacity to defend this abomination?

[Tom]

What is there to say to this? One of the things I know about myself is that there some things i would rather not know or believe. Oh, to be sure, I know that this does happen but to know details or stories is just too much to carry. It is one thing with politics where you know things go on that would make our heads spin if we knew. How much more so is it tragic when it happens in the house of God, the place where God has promised to make Himself known through His Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit!!!

[Ian]

We have noticed that the administration in parishes and dioceses are harder to get rid of than barnacles. They tend to hunker down when someone comes through to clean things up, pretend to be orthodox and then when the reforming priest leaves, they bring their true attitudes back in the open.

[WRY]

Has it come to this? Amy and Joe singing from the same hymnal?

[JonathanR.]

When the lawyer talked about how the Church bureaucracy reacted like lawyers and not religious people when faced with abuser priests, I thought of how it was the Catholic Church that introduced modern concepts of rule of law into the West. Somehow, acting like lawyers is natural to Catholic churchmen. I don't know of any other religious equivalent to something like Canon Law.

[Carolyn]

John -

A very thoughtful post.

I fully agree that this is a multi-faceted problem. I think you covered it pretty well for a coffee break:

<>

Would that some of us were in their positions at those times I dare say we may have made similar decisions for reasons that from the outside we cannot fully understand. That doesn't meen their actions were right, but I don't believe that decisions were made maliciously. Perhaps cowardly and too cautiously.

[Samuel J. Howard]

Episcopalians and Anglicans have Canon Law as well. And there was that Methodist trial last year.

[Fr. Shawn O'Neal]

About Fr. John's comments: Very accurate. Quite a few seminarians have been told that unconventional ideas and practices might be the stuff of religious orders formation or a simple warning to buckle up or hit the road.

About podunk parishes: As nuts as my parish family can be in the two churches that have been and will be considered "podunk" by many people, I thank God for them, I am honored to serve them, and I hope can serve them for many years.

[Fr. Shawn O'Neal]

The great quote from Msgr. Ronald Knox will hold true for a long, long time: "On the barque of Peter, those with queasy stomachs should keep clear of the engine room."

We chuckle about it, but that's all.

[John J. Simmins]

I was just in a conversation with a co-worker who related that we had a 20-year employee here where I work who was arrested some years ago for being a child molester (it was his children). It seems that he had been doing it for about 20 years. No one here could believe it at first. Then, after thinking about it, people would recall incidents and comments that might have tipped them off if they hadn't held him in such high regard. People also couldn't believe that his wife new nothing but apparently, she didn't or chose to ignore it.
Now if a mother could not (would not) see this activity with her own children in her own house and co-workers couldn’t (wouldn’t) see the signs, it shouldn’t be surprising that clergy would do the same thing. If you suspect a fellow priest of this kind of activity, you have to go a lot farther in believing in the betrayal of values than you would a co-worker. You have to believe that a person who should be the paragon of virtue is really the lowest, vilest of creatures. That’s a big swing of opinion.
I’m not saying I understand this. I’m just saying that I see it a lot in various types of institutions and relationships.

[Marion (Mael Muire)]

(Sigh)

I was reading, Amy, the life of the saint you have posted on the sidebar, Saint Francis Borgia. I got interested in his family history, and I read up on that, too. Saint Francis Borgia's great-grandfather was Pope Alexander VI, not one of our more exemplary popes. (The way he and his companions carried on would make Hugh Hefner's hair stand on end.) And Saint Francis Borgia's great-uncle, Cesare, who was, for a time, a cardinal of the Church, was a . . . well, the word "monster" is not too strong a term for him, I think.

Wickedness and corruption is ever to be found where there are human persons; the Church, unfortunately, is no exception. Saint Francis Borgia knew this very well. He also knew just what he needed to do about it. . .

. . . Decide to become a saint. And then do it.

[cs]

Dear Fathers,

If the "can do" spirit of entrepreneurs disqualifies one from the seminary, then let's be honest about it.

I have gone through a long and drawn period of discernment, most of the time feeling very badly that I wasn't "good enough", privately seething that DePaoli the kiddy porn porn priest was still saying Mass, and traning the altar boys. Now I see that three of the priests that I thought were helping me, stand accused. Isn't that special?

In 2000, Bevilaqua paid millions for a billboard campaign for vaocations. It was a joke.

Bevilaqua is a phoney, and I'm sorry I ever looked up to him or Krol. And the next time I hear about a priest shortage, I intend to say "Shut the %$@* up".

Angry? Why shouldn't I be? Read all the stories posted today. Msgr. Walsh had Charismatic program/personality cult for 35 years. All over the place. Now he's "on sabbatical" with shingles. Yea, right.

Thank you again Amy. I'll go say the Act of Faith again. Never thought I'd fall out of love with my Church.

[Marion (Mael Muire)]

Forget Bevilacqua and Walsh. It's Jesus who died for you. Not Bevilacqua. Not Walsh.

Jesus on the cross for you. Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament for you.

Jesus.

Jesus.

Jesus.

Jesus, the Head of the Church, is all that matters.

[Mark Shea]

WRY:

Given that Amy is an orthodox Catholic and is criticizing this counter-productive system, I don't see that she's "singing out of the same hymnal" as Joe. Joe's purpose, as usual, is to scream incoherently and claim that "orthodoxy=Death!" or something. He apparently has the notion that orthodox Catholics would never dream of suggesting that a bureaucratic system which turns men into cattle and not Christians is good thing. Who knows why he thinks this. In the meantime, the fact is he is screaming at phantoms since Amy and numerous other orthdox Catholics on the board are critical of this system. However, when you are a Lone Prophet, its easy to become deaf to all voice but one's own. Joe's been screaming at everybody for so long that he has not only deafened his audience, he's deafened himself. Don't lump a good woman like Amy in with him.

[Mark Shea]

oops...

"...is *not* a good thing."

d'oh!

[Joseph D'Hippolito]

Joe's purpose, as usual, is to scream incoherently and claim that "orthodoxy=Death!" or something.

Mark, I have never claimed that orthodoxy equals death. I have claimed that too many Catholics view Catholicism as an end in itself rather than as a means to an end, worshipping Christ and obeying God. I have claimed that too many Catholics worship their theological identity as God. None of these people have the courage to admit the obvious: any closed, hierarchial bureaucracy that isolates its members, gives them an inflated sense of self, demands blind deference and discourages accountability and transparency will automatically foster corruption.

He apparently has the notion that orthodox Catholics would never dream of suggesting that a bureaucratic system which turns men into cattle and not Christians is (not a) good thing.

Why shouldn't I think that, given the fact that many correspondents to this and other blogs refuse to admit the obvious about the system, let alone its leaders?

Why shouldn't I think that, given the fact that any suggestions for greater accountability to the laity and lower clergy are immediately shot down (not the least of whom by you)?

Why shouldn't I think that, given the fact that you -- arguably the most influential Catholic blogger besides Amy -- has given unequivocal and unconditional support to a system that continually produces corrupt prelates! Yes, I know you've criticized Law and and currently criticize Mahony. But you never take the next logical step; you refuse to see that such men, regardless of their "liberal" or "conservative" tendencies, are natural products of a system that views its own preservation as the highest good. You've certainly never held the late Pope accountable for appointing such men or for failing to address the clerical sex-abuse crisis more forthrightly.

Whenever anybody bothers suggesting greater accountability to the laity or lower clergy, you immediatly pull the "apostolic succession" card, as if Christ Himself would tolerate the current situation. Read John 13:3-17 and see how Christ's recommendations contrasts dramatically with the current situation.

In the meantime, the fact is he is screaming at phantoms...when you are a Lone Prophet, its easy to become deaf to all voice but one's own. Joe's been screaming at everybody for so long that he has not only deafened his audience, he's deafened himself.

The fact that you would issue personal attacks against me instead of confronting the truths that Fr. John, Fr. Shaun and cs relate speaks volumes about your shattered moral compass.

Face it, Mark. You are nothing more than a shill. More people realize that than you can possibly imagine. Why else do you viciously attack anyone who has the audacity to disagree with the Holy Roman Emperor? And you cannot be anything else but a shill since examining the truth honestly would destroy your value system, let alone your comfort zone and a livelihood you've taken years to build.

Talk to me when you develop some courage, Mark. Until then...you know the drill, big guy. ;)

[WRY]

I'm sorry if I somehow started a fight between Mark and Joe and possibly ticked off Amy in the process, but here's what I was trying to get at and which Joe, in his latest, really highlights as an important issue:
Is the problem individual sin or a sinful institution?
Joe says the system is screwed up so that there's no such thing as fixing it by replacing this or that person (correct me if I misstate your position, Joe). He looks for a radical change.
I interpreted this remark from Amy as suggesting some agreement with this idea:
"Radically and courageously following Christ is not important to Church bureaucrats. If it were, they wouldn't be Church bureaucrats, after all."
Now, given that we are a hierarchical church, and a big one, and that this would seem inevitably to lead to "bureaucracy" in some form, where does this leave us? More importantly, where does it take us? (It took the protestants out of the church).

[cs]

Yes, Jesus did die for me. Like I said, the Act of Faith is keeping me afloat these days. How can I attend Mass when I know full well that there are at least 3 more perverts under the radar, and at least one more bishop who assisted in the coverups? In addition, there are the personal friends of these creeps, AND THIER CONFESSORS.

Bishop Cistone (rewarded last year with a miter for "monitoring" the Kiddy Porn Priest complaints, and "was complicit" in the firing of the nun who complained): "it would not serve any purpose to revisit the grand jury report and endeavor to recall the rationale for past decisions made in specific cases"

It would serve a great purpose! All the resources being wasted on Good TouchBad Touch bullshit would be better spent in having these guys put on film, explaining why they did this. Did they sleep at night all these years? Did they confess the coverup; if so was the penance sufficient to restore what was stolen from the laity, namely, trust and confidence in thier priests and hierarchy?

What they did was defend the brand. What civil lawyers did the Archdiocese employ at the time? Were they made aware of these sick bastards? Did the Archdiocese purchase insurance in bad faith? Which lay secretaries typed the memos?

Or are we supposed to feel sorry for 84 year old Msgr. Statkus, chancellor to Cardinal Krol, who offered Fr. Gausch a pastorate after Gausch admitted to molesting boys AS FAR BACK AS 1946, now says "I pass simply because of age". Oh, is that how this works?

Well, Msgr., you don't have a get out of hell free card.

Contrition. A requirement for absolution.

[Mark Shea]

Joe:

As usual, your love for hysterical rhetoric leads you to say dumb things.

I don't have "unequivocal and unconditional support" for the current status quo. Neither do I shoot down "any suggestions for greater accountability to the laity and lower clergy". If that were true I would be shooting Amy down quite a bit, whereas I never shoot her down because she talks sense. Indeed, recently I was making the suggestion on my blog (to the loud screams of a number of offended people) that I could see no particular reason laity (including women) could not be made electors of the Pope. And I hold no brief for bureaucracy and think the Church would be well served if the bishops eliminated a great many of their bureaucrats, particularly in the USCCB.

No, Joe. I don't shoot all conversation about reform down. I shoot *your* ideas down. And the reason I do that is because your vague schemes for remodeling the Church as a Jeffersonian Democracy are contrary to revelation.

Like it or not, Jesus constituted the Church as a hierarchy. That means bishops, priests and deacons aren't going anywhere. He created the sacrament of Holy Orders without a Sunset Clause. Likewise, he constituted the Church so that apostolic succession will be a fact of life till the parousia. There is room in the Church for lay input on who shall be bishop(see "Ambrose, Bishop of Milan"). But the fact remains that the responsibility to govern the Church belongs to the bishops.

We laity already have the power and capacity to deal with criminal bishops--if we will use it. We are, after all, the ones with all the guns and prisons. We're not powerless.

As to the rest of your temper tantrum: I forgive you.

[Christine]

"Episcopalians and Anglicans have Canon Law as well. And there was that Methodist trial last year."

Well, shucks, so do the Eastern Orthodox. They also have hierarchs and apostolic succession and call themselves One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic and -- oh crikey, I'd better stop or Joe D' will get on their case too!!

[Christine]

Gosh journalists are lazy!! American Lutherans don't have "weekly mass" they have worship services and their "altar boys" are called acolytes.

Gosh journalists are lazy!!

Caught the "Cannon law", too. What a blast!

[HA]

Regarding what Fr. John was saying: while the Jay report and other data indicate that there has been some improvement in the last few years with regard to removing rapists -- however temporary and cyclical that change may be) -- what I find especially disconcerting is the treatment of whistleblowers (a certain incident from Cardinal Levada's past also comes to mind, though I can't say I know all the particulars). If those who claim they've turned over a new leaf are truly serious, they would be doing something to apologize to those priests and nuns who tried to the right thing earlier only to be treated as pariahs, and I see little evidence of that. If they ostracized dissenting clergy the way they do whistleblowers it would be a much smaller church indeed. As it is, in the current climate, where every apology is an invitation to another lawsuit, the inclination will be to wrap the veil even tighter.

However, in answer to WRY's question, as long as we can keep in mind the limitations of bureaucratic group-think, preferably without drifting into D'Hippolito-like hysterics or outright anti-Catholicism (assuming that's a distinction with a difference), we can work around them. Caeser has a necessary role here, and as long as the threat of civil censure (whether a prison term, a lawsuit, or a newspaper headline) persists, the situation should continue to improve. Given how human nature operates in bureaucracies, changes are unlikely to come from within the clergy, but this does not mean that changes will not come.

[Fr. Shawn O'Neal]

Marion:

Thanks for the prayer for all of us to remember. May Jesus be the cornerstone of our lives and the source of all we say and do.

[Kevin Miller]

A problem with the whole thesis here is that we have some bishops (especially newer ones) who, I think, are doing a pretty good (even if not perfect) job of "radically and courageously following Christ."

Another problem is with the presupposition that one isn't doing this unless one is criticizing one's bishop (therefore, that chancery employees who don't criticize their bishop aren't radically and courageously following Christ and hence will make bad bishops).

[cs]

Kevin,

The presupposition is there because the Philly chancery (the only one I have been in) is touted as the very model of efficiancy, from the Institutional Procurement Service, to it's land aquistion department, to it's multimillion dollar conference center, to my own pastor's comments.

"Pretty good" is not good enough where rapists are concerned, lives and careers are disrupted, and illicit Masses are celebrated publicly.

The Philly grand jury report is a watershed event, and it should be on the desk of every professor who is helping in the formation of priests.

Christ demands that we be childlike in our faith. Does it not follow that a child will question that a Father rapes his brother and sister? Does it not follow that a family will be torn asunder when the Father is duplicitous, having a secret life away from his Bride? Childlike.

Priests who believe they can compartmentalise thier lives are no better than Jack Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Henry Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, and we are complicit in thier (in)actions if we go along with it.

These bishops (Cullen and Cistone) were condemned by thier own writings. If they had any sense of shame, they would retire and seek out a private life a penance among the poor. But they don't have a sense of shame. They cry because they were caught. Let them suffer as we have suffered.

The Philly DA has been recieving 5-10 allegations a week, and she will be reelected in a few weeks by a landslide.

[Fr. Shawn O'Neal]

A quote that has helped me keep proper perspective and helps me to remember what I am supposed to be doing each day of my life comes from another former Cardinal Archibishop of Philadelphia, Dennis Dougherty, as he ordained a bishop: "My dear young man, when you face Jesus Christ in eternity as one of His bishops He is not going to ask you how you got along with the Roman Curia, but how many souls you saved."

I pray that Cardinal Dougherty was not speaking to impress a crowd. I pray that all priests and bishops take that quote to heart.

[HA]

The Philly DA has been recieving 5-10 allegations a week, and she will be reelected in a few weeks by a landslide.

Am I to understand she took time out of her busy campaign schedule to release a grand jury report on priestly pedophilia just weeks before elections? And they dare accuse her of political opportunism -- what nerve!

While I will say again that Caesar has a necessary role in all this, to the extent that his actions lack partiality and reek of ulterior motive, then even if they are the crooked lines that God writes straight with, they deserve criticism too. And yes, that goes for mealy-mouthed bishops as well as DA's angling for reelection.

[Tom Haessler]

The real lesson in the Bevilaqua and Krol mess is that, contrary to the opinions of some conservative Catholics, the sexual abuse crisis is NOT a result of heterodoxy and widespread liturgical abuse. Philadelphia is a very conservative archdiocese, liturgical abuse is rare, Bevilaqua distinguished himself by trotting out his "no homosexual candidates in my seminary no matter how chaste they are", etc. The truth is that sexual abuse has a very long history, is not confined to America, is found in Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, Central and South America. It was commented on by many fathers of the Church, is referenced in a number of monastic rules, was the subject of extensive commentary by Saint Catherine of Sienna in her "dialogues", etc., etc. I'm an orthodox and fairly conservative Catholic myself, but this notion of pinning clerical sexual abuse on heterodoxy or liturgical abuse neglects to look at the facts. Cardinals Law, Bevilacqua, and Krol were conservatives. Cardinal Mahoney is a liberal. Yet all have a deplorable record in this area. The problem is clerical culture (the separation from the lives of the flock by discourging friendships with laity, etc.). The solution is to bring lay people into the seminaries as professionals, educate seminarians with lay persons of both sexes being trained in pastoral ministry. There are many bad things about heterodoxy. But the notion that orthodox priests are not sometimes involved in sexual abuse is absurd. Remember Father Richard Ginder, a very conservative priest, former editor of THE PRIEST magazine, and known for his defense of Catholic teaching on human sexuality. Then when he got in trouble for sexual misconduct he morphed into the author of BINDING WITH BRIARS - a wholesale assault on Catholic teaching on sex. There will always be a minority of people who are involved in pedophilia and sexual abuse of post-pubescent teens in the priesthood. That's life. The issue is how this ongoing problem will be handled. And that's where the real scandal comes. The complicity in crime of so many bishops.

Tom Haessler

[Diana Goodavage]

Where is "Father" Ginder now? Still alive?