Some information on WHAT HAS BEEN DONE in the Catholic Church regarding fighting against and dealing honestly w the evil of sexual abuse of minors (and anyone) by clergy and others who work for the Church, and within the larger community of Catholics who volunteer in the Church:
Much of this information was gathered through talking with Ms Jerri Burkhardt, who leads the Office of Child Protection in our Archdiocese.
After the first great series of news reports on abuse in the Church came out In 2002 the U.S. Bishops gathered for their annual spring assembly in Dallas and there they produced the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. And here are a few points from that document:
Money that goes out to victims of abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore: The Archdiocese of Baltimore keeps records and shared information with Holy Family Parish on how much was spent by the archdiocese on paying for counseling and also outright sums given to individuals year by year in recent times. The Archdiocese was helping a number of people get counseling and takes seriously the hurts caused in the past our bishops and our Child Protection Office members always meet with those who have experienced abuse in the past. They also make sure that any place a person working for the Church abused someone (parish, school, etc.) will be notified and there will be publicity about this, in case others were abused.
Here at Holy Family we also have our VIRTUS training for anyone who volunteers here, and if they have substantial contact with children, they have to have background checks, etc. such that they have to pass the same level of scrutiny as a person wanting to get a high-level security clearance for the government.
Our young people are also given training to help them to know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable from others. And what they should do if they are uncomfortable with the behavior of another person.
We are sorry that all of these things have happened. We pray that our Church can be purified of its sins and work for the good in the future.
The staff at Holy Family
Much of this information was gathered through talking with Ms Jerri Burkhardt, who leads the Office of Child Protection in our Archdiocese.
After the first great series of news reports on abuse in the Church came out In 2002 the U.S. Bishops gathered for their annual spring assembly in Dallas and there they produced the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. And here are a few points from that document:
- In 2002 the bishops agreed to zero-tolerance regarding the sexual abuse of minors. And therefore, “one strike and you’re out” became, after that gathering, the policy. Relatedly, any charge of sexual abuse of a minor that comes to the Church’s attention must be reported, without delay, to the relevant civil authorities.
- A second feature of the 2002 gathering was the insistence upon background checks, not only for priests but for any employee of the Catholic Church. Anyone with an incident of sexual abuse on his or her record simply cannot minister in any capacity with in the structure of the Church. Screenings of priests, seminarians and any employees of the Archdiocese are now equal to what someone trying to get a job with the FBI would have.
- A third element of the 2002 protocols is specialized training for anyone who works or ministers with people within the Church. This training is about recognizing the signs of sexual abuse and the procedure for reporting the offense to the police. All volunteers in our Archdiocese and our parish have to go through this training. Staff and clergy have to be fingerprinted and to have background checks. Those with “substantial contact” with children have to have background checks. All volunteers, even those who do not have direct contact with children, need to go through the training.
- The fourth is that any accusation against a priest that is deemed credible results in his immediate removal from ministry – or any job with the Archdiocese – period, and the civil authorities are contacted within 24 hours. If it is clergy the Archdiocese also publishes their name in the Catholic newspaper, holds a mtg where that clergy person had been serving, and publishes notices at every parish where that clergy person had ever served. The diocese also provides a press release for the secular press to use.
- The fifth is that we also have had, since 2002, an Office of Child Protection in our diocese, and a truly independent Review Board that has 22 members, including a former Chief of Police of Balt, 2 retired judges, a multiplicity of religions, a chancellor for the U of MD, a pediatrician, an LSW in social work, etc. This board has the responsibility of investigating the case and making a recommendation to the relevant bishop or archbishop. This involvement of lay people – w competencies in law, psychology and criminal investigation, etc. – assures that clergy will not be judged simply by other clergy, who might be biased in favor of the priest. This board once wrote a public letter to the Baltimore Sun about the handling of the case of a popular priest that was critical of the then-Archbishop.
- And all of this had made an impact: I’ll quote Bishop Robert Barron’s book Letter to a Suffering Church on p 85-86 that: “….the plain truth is this: these institutional changes have made a substantial difference.” And he adds, “Numerous careful studies have revealed that instances of clergy sex abuse peaked in the 1960’s and 1970’s, declining steadily thereafter, and precipitously after 2002, so that now the reporting of new cases is down to a trickle. I wouldn’t dream of denying or underplaying the horrors reported in the Pennsylvania Attorney General report already cited, but I would say that it is a fact that, of the four hundred or so crimes reported, precisely two occurred after 2002. And that in the whole United States in 2018, there were two priests were credibly accused of sexual abuse. So there is a culture change happening: Groups like the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts are working hard now to make their people safe, and it is working. And that’s good to know.
- But, for all of that, one of the big concerns that surfaced in 2018 (after the publicity about the scandal of former-Cardinal McCarrick being able to get away with sexual harassment of seminarians, etc. for years without action by people who should have acted against him) was how to handle BISHOPS who either committed abuse or showed a lack of diligence in reporting abuse. This showed with the cases of (former Cardinal) Theodore McCarrick (who is no longer a priest) and other bishops.
- So a missing piece was that all the 2002 regulations had not been applied to the BISHOPS themselves.
- In how bishops were to be handled when they acted badly or when they handled the cases of others badly.
- After an international meeting on how to handle abuse in the Church in Feb 2019, the Pope issued a document called “Vos Estis Lux Mundi.” And it laid out all the directives for the whole Church around the world with issues like the requirement of reporting abuse, following civil laws, help for victims, etc., etc. There is also a directive to begin task forces for areas of the world where this issue has not be dealt with as extensively as in the United States, Europe etc, to get those areas moving on detection and prevention. AND directives for how bishops should be investigated if there are accusations either of abuse personally, or lack of diligence in reporting abuse.
- Basically, for a bishop, the local Archbishop is tasked to make an investigation. This is what happened with Archbishop Lori investigating Bransfield of W Va. In two more recent cases, the local bishop is getting a third party, often the local Lay Advisory Committees on Child Protection in the local diocese, to make an investigation of the bishop. This is what is happening to the bishops of the Diocese of Buffalo and the Diocese of Crookston right now where the local Archbishops handed the investigations off to teams of lay people…And already some leadership have been asked to step down in those dioceses as ongoing investigations.
- Internationally this is happening as well: In Chile, 7 bishops were removed in 2018 over cover-ups of abuse, and there are several other countries where they have been removed in the last few years. Now there is specific set of procedures to follow on this.
- BUT THEN WHAT ABOUT THE ATTITUDE CHANGE THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN AND THE SPIRITUAL CRISIS UNDERNEATH ALL OF THIS WHICH HAS LED TO GREED AND SEXUAL SINS??? How do we address those questions, then, after talking about all the new rules, etc? For Bp. Robert Barron then, in LTSC p 87-88, says that “….much more is needed than a tightening of protocols, as crucial as that is. What is especially needed is a deep and abiding spiritual reform.” Barron adds, and I hate to see it, “….Can anyone doubt at this point that there has been a serious rot in the Catholic priesthood? Mind you, I’m not blaming all my brothers; I’m not saying all priests are equally guilty; I’m not denying that there are real saints and heroes in the ranks of the priesthood…..(but it) beggars belief. He adds, “Attempts to explain the crisis by noting that the percentage of abusers among priests is roughly equivalent to the national average don’t satisfy. Have we settled for a bar that low? When it comes to moral and spiritual integrity, priests are meant to be leaders, exemplars….”
Money that goes out to victims of abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore: The Archdiocese of Baltimore keeps records and shared information with Holy Family Parish on how much was spent by the archdiocese on paying for counseling and also outright sums given to individuals year by year in recent times. The Archdiocese was helping a number of people get counseling and takes seriously the hurts caused in the past our bishops and our Child Protection Office members always meet with those who have experienced abuse in the past. They also make sure that any place a person working for the Church abused someone (parish, school, etc.) will be notified and there will be publicity about this, in case others were abused.
Here at Holy Family we also have our VIRTUS training for anyone who volunteers here, and if they have substantial contact with children, they have to have background checks, etc. such that they have to pass the same level of scrutiny as a person wanting to get a high-level security clearance for the government.
Our young people are also given training to help them to know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable from others. And what they should do if they are uncomfortable with the behavior of another person.
We are sorry that all of these things have happened. We pray that our Church can be purified of its sins and work for the good in the future.
The staff at Holy Family