All the Pope's Men (34 page)

The genuine ecclesial communion between the Episcopal Conference and the Apostolic See, demonstrated once again in these painful circumstances, prompts us all to pray earnestly to God that from the present crisis might emerge, as the Holy Father has stated: “a holier priesthood, a holier episcopate, and a holier Church" (cf. L’Osservatore Romano, 24 April 2002). In this way, the bonds of communion which unite the bishops with their priests and deacons, and the faithful with their pastors, will be further strengthened. The Holy See, moreover, together with the bishops of the United States, feels duty-bound in justice and in gratitude to reaffirm and defend the good name of the overwhelming majority of priests and deacons who are and have always been exemplary in their fidelity to the demands of their vocation but have been offended or unjustly slandered by association. As the Holy Father has said, we cannot forget “the immense spiritual, human and social good that the vast majority of priests and religious in the United States have done and are still doing." Indeed, it appears necessary to devote every available resource to restoring the public image of the Catholic priesthood as a worthy and noble vocation of generous and often sacrificial service to the People of God.

As regards religious priests and deacons I would ask the representatives of the Episcopal Conference to continue to meet with the representatives of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men to examine more closely the various aspects of their particular situation, and to forward to the Holy See whatever agreements they may reach.

February 7, 2003
John Paul II signed a set of revisions to
Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela
designed to speed up trials of accused priests and to make it easier to remove guilty priests from the clerical state. The changes allow deacons and laypeople to serve on criminal tribunals in the Catholic Church, even as judges. The changes cite canon 1421, which stipulates that on a three-judge panel, one judge may be a layperson. Under the May 18
motu proprio,
those roles had been restricted to priests. The changes also drop the requirement that tribunal members must have a doctorate in canon law, insisting only that they hold the lesser degree of a licentiate and have worked in tribunals for “a reasonable time." Both moves should expand the pool of judges and lawyers and make it easier to form tribunals. The changes also give the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith the power in “clear and grave" situations to dismiss someone from the priesthood without a trial. That administrative power had belonged only to the Pope himself. The congregation also acquired the power to “sanate," meaning clean up, procedural irregularities in the acts of a local tribunal. That means that if a case comes to Rome on appeal on procedural grounds, the problem can be resolved without remanding the case for a new trial. The changes permit a recourse, or appeal, against decisions of the congregation only to the regular Wednesday assembly of cardinal members of the congregation. All other appeals are excluded, meaning that the congregation’s decisions are final.

March 26, 2003
In a personal message to three Boston-area men who said they are victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, John Paul II vowed that he “realizes the seriousness of the problem" and “will see that this doesn’t happen again." Monsignor James Green, a senior official in the Secretariat of State, carried the Pope’s message to the men, who had arrived in Rome on March 23 seeking a meeting with John Paul. The three were Gary Bergeron and Bernie McDade, who claim to have been abused by the same priest, and Joseph Bergeron, Gary’s father, who said he was abused as an altar boy by another priest. Green visited the men at their hotel ten minutes from the Vatican at 6:30 P.M. Green opened the meeting by praying an Our Father. He then presented the Pope’s message. “The Holy Father realizes the seriousness of this problem, and is doing all he can," Bergeron said Green told them, saying they were free to share the message with other victims. “[The Pope] will continue to do all he can to heal the Church and to pray for the victims. He will see that this doesn’t happen again."

Bergeron said Green then said that John Paul had instructed him to ask if the men had any message for the Pope. Joseph Bergeron spoke first. “The Holy Father needs to make sure that this never, ever, ever happens to another child," he said. McDade followed. “The Holy Father needs to heal the Church, not just the survivors but the Church itself. He needs to realize how the Church in the United States is hurting." Gary Bergeron concluded. “The Holy Father needs to put a face with the problem, meaning he needs to meet with us," he said. “If not me, meet with my father. If not him, then some victim he can associate with the problem. Only then will he understand the depth of the wound." Bergeron said the session was “very intense, very emotional," but that he would continue to press for a personal meeting with John Paul.

April 2–5, 2003
The Holy See sponsored a unique four-day, closed-door symposium on pedophilia. An April 5 Vatican statement said the meeting featured eight of “the most qualified experts on the theme." There were four Germans, three Canadians, and an American. All eight, in what planners described as a coincidence, were non-Catholic. The chief organizer of the symposium was Dr. Manfred Lütz, a member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and a psychiatrist from Germany. The idea, according to participants, was to expose Vatican officials to “state-of-the-art information" from a scientific point of view. Participants included officials from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Secretariat of State, as well as from the Vatican congregations for clergy, religious, and Catholic education. The lone American expert was Dr. Martin P. Kafka of the Harvard Medical School, whose field is sexual impulsivity disorders.

During question and answer periods, discussion touched upon not merely pedophilia but the broader phenomenon of sexual abuse. On the question of a possible connection between homosexuality and the abuse of adolescent males, Vatican officials were told that homosexuality is a risk factor, but not the cause, of this behavior. In other words, while homosexuality is statistically associated with a higher incidence of sexual contact with teenage boys, so are other factors, such as being within five years of having been ordained. The experts asserted that there is no causal link between being homosexual and abuse. One Vatican official said that this message came through “loud and clear" and predicted that it might help delay, or even derail, a document on the admission of homosexuals to Catholic seminaries. Vatican observers were also struck by criticism of zero tolerance policies, suggesting that it may lead to guidelines about support of priests after they are removed from ministry.

Kafka told the
National Catholic Reporter
afterward that homosexuality was not the main focus of the meeting, though there was interest in the subject. “A risk factor is not a cause," he said. “The great predominance of homosexual males are in no way sexual abusers," Kafka said. “We don’t really know in a scientific way what the factors are" that cause abuse, Kafka said. “We don’t have the evidence." Other topics, Kafka said, included whether more effective screening could filter out potential abusers, and what promise rehabilitation programs might hold. Kafka said the experts were not optimistic about a “magic bullet" screening program. Presenters also stressed the need for open discussion of sexuality among young priests, and improving the ongoing supervision of priests. “As a non-Catholic, I was impressed with the deep, genuine concern about the issue, the willingness to be open and listen, and the proactive approach to doing the right thing," Kafka said. “I was very encouraged by this meeting."

June 18, 2003 Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien resigns in Phoenix after being arrested on charges of fleeing the scene of an auto accident. O’Brien was taken into custody two days after the car he had been driving was involved in an incident in which a forty-three-year-old pedestrian died. The news came just two weeks after O’Brien made a deal with county prosecutors to avoid criminal charges for his handling of sex abuse charges against Phoenix priests. Though the Vatican did not make any formal comment, one source told NCR that this O’Brien affair “weighed heavily" upon the Holy See.

June 19–21, 2003 The U.S. bishops met in St. Louis amid controversy over the resignation of former Oklahoma governor Frank Keating as head of the National Review Board. Apostolic nuncio Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo gave the meeting’s opening address. “We all know that we are going through difficult times and that some real problems within the Church have been magnified to discredit the moral authority of the Church," said Montalvo, a Colombian. Montalvo referenced the Book of Wisdom to advise the bishops: “As gold in the furnace he proved them!" Fire, said Montalvo, “can quickly reduce to ashes what was built in years," though it also has “the power to purify and to draw out from the earth that which is precious and rich." Montalvo urged the bishops to look to examples of those in the Church who had dealt with crisis. He pointed to Pope John XXIII’s determination to continue to support the Second Vatican Council despite “criticisms that were expressed by bishops and cardinals who felt that this initiative would disrupt the Church and prove to be a fiasco." Likewise, said Montalvo, Pope Paul VI, through his encyclical
Humanae Vitae,
“never shrunk from proclaiming and teaching the truth about the dignity of human life" even “in the face of vocal opposition and awful dissent." And Pope John Paul II, said Montalvo, though “visibly weakened and limited by his physical condition, continues to press forward on the mission to which he has been called by almighty God."

July 1, 2003
The Holy See announces the appointment of Bishop Sean O’Malley of Palm Beach, Florida, as the new archbishop of Boston. Vatican sources cited O’Malley’s experience in dealing with the sexual abuse crisis in Palm Beach and also in Fall River, Massachusetts, his positive public image in the Boston area, and his Capuchin Franciscan spirituality in explaining the appointment.

July 7, 2003
Rodriguez revisited his comments on the American crisis in an interview in Rome with the
National Catholic Reporter.
“I don’t repent," Rodriguez said. “Maybe I was a little strong, but sometimes it’s necessary to shake things up." Rodriguez said that he did not question the suffering of victims of sexual abuse, or deny the failures of some bishops to intervene. What he wanted to raise, he said, is a question of emphasis. In the context of massive global poverty and injustice, does sexual abuse by Catholic priests merit the extensive coverage it received in the American press? “Many people said that I am against the media, but this isn’t true," Rodriguez said. “Sexual abuse is heartbreaking and victims deserve compassion. What I’m against is the lack of global perspective." Rodriguez also said he hopes the crisis is teaching the American bishops a new style of leadership. “Bishops of the First World sometimes saw themselves as related to wealth, power, and privilege," Rodriguez said. “I’ve even seen that in the Vatican, where First World bishops are sometimes treated with more respect than bishops from the Third World, because they are seen as VIPs.... Perhaps this is calling the bishops to become servants, closer to the people," he said.

July 29, 2003
The
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
reported on a 1962 Vatican document titled
Crimen Sollicitationis,
which decreed that canonical investigations of various sorts of sexual misconduct by priests, especially as it pertained to the confessional, were to be covered by pontifical secrecy. Excommunication was the penalty for violations. CBS gave the story national exposure on August 6 with a segment that began: “For decades, priests in this country have abused children in parish after parish while their superiors covered it all up. Now it turns out the orders for this coverup were written in Rome at the highest levels of the Vatican." Canon lawyers and Church spokespersons, however, said that the document imposed secrecy only on canonical procedures, and did not prohibit anyone from reporting criminal acts by priests to the police. Moreover, the document’s relative obscurity and short duration in force meant, these sources said, that it did not set the pattern in the Church for the handling of sex abuse cases. The Vatican had no official comment, but on background spokespersons echoed the analysis of canon lawyers and the U.S. bishops’ conference.

August 23, 2003
John Geoghan was murdered by an inmate at a prison in Shirley, Massachusetts. Geoghan had been held in protective custody, but still had some limited contact with other inmates. The Vatican had no official comment, but Herranz gave an interview to the Roman daily
La Repubblica
on August 25 in which he referred to the death as a “painful" incident. “As soon as I heard, I prayed for his soul and for his aggressor," Herranz said. Asked what lesson the Church might draw from the episode, Herranz replied, “That there is always the reality of sin in the world, in this case the sin of homicide. What caused this we don’t know. We can’t judge. Now all is in the hands of God, the Supreme Judge: only he knows how to judge because he knows that even the most persistent sinner in the end can repent. Maybe Geoghan in prison had already begun to repent for the evil he did." Asked if the Holy See was succeeding in crushing the problem of pedophilia in the Church, Herranz said, “The drama of pedophilia is a problem that doesn’t regard just priests of the Catholic Church, but the entire society. It’s enough to look on the Internet. I don’t understand why it’s talked about only with the Church, as if somebody wants to sully its image in order to take away its moral force." The reporter then said that priestly pedophilia in the American Church was a reality that couldn’t be ignored. Herranz responded, “That’s true. But pedophilia is only minimally identified with the Church, touching scarcely 1 percent of priests. Meanwhile for other categories of persons, the percentages are much higher. In any event, this is a very painful question for the Church, because the Church is the first to condemn pedophilia as an abominable crime and for this reason has launched a very severe discipline with tough disciplinary measures, which are difficult to equal in other civil societies."