When priests and bishops sin…

Lent is the season when all of us examine our consciences, our desires and our actions to come to a better knowledge of our sinfulness. Just as the good we do shapes not only our own life but the lives of all who live “in Christ”, so also the evil that any one does affects us all. A list of sins can seem pedestrian until we come to one that should disturb us all because it shames us as Catholics.

This Lent, the stories about sexual abuse of minors by priests and bishops disclose conduct that is disordered, criminal and deeply sinful. There is no excuse for these despicable actions. Sexual abuse of minors is not only shameful in itself but destructive of the lives of the innocent. Not in Chicago but in my office as bishop elsewhere and as a superior in my own religious order, I have talked to victims of sexual abuse by priests and by others. They are stories that cry to heaven for vengeance. Once trust, which is the foundation of a stable life, is destroyed, it is hard to put a victim’s life together again. The stories are tales of alcohol and substance abuse, of troubled marriages, of sometimes permanently damaged self-esteem. Those with any capacity for sympathy will do what they can to respond to the sadness and anger.

Over ten years ago, the Archdiocese of Chicago had to come to terms with incidents of clerical sexual misconduct because the sins of some priests caused great scandal. There were also around that time a few stories that were false allegations, most notoriously that against Cardinal Bernardin himself. Because every story must be taken seriously, an independent commission reviewed the situation and made its findings public. With the help of third-party experts, the commission made recommendations which the Archdiocese turned into policies for responding to allegations of sexual misconduct with minors, sorting them out and protecting children. These policies have been operative for over ten years. They are re-printed in this issue of The Catholic New World.

There are in the policies a number of means that attempt to assure the protection of children. Probably the most important of these is a nine-member independent Professional Fitness Review Board. It numbers three clerics and six lay Catholics who are not employees of the Archdiocese, including a psychiatrist, a psychologist or social worker, an attorney, a parish council member, a parent and a victim/survivor or parent of a victim of child sexual abuse.

The Board’s administrator is a mandated reporter to public authorities. This means that he or she is required by law to comply with all civil reporting requirements related to sexual misconduct with a minor and to cooperate with official investigations. All reports of sexual misconduct with minors by clergy are made to the independent Professional Fitness Review Board and all recommendations about withdrawal of priests from ministry and about priests’ possible return to ministry are made by the Board.

When an allegation is made, the Board receives it and returns to me a first assessment of its credibility. If the allegation seems to be credible, as is often the case, the Board recommends either that the priest be removed from ministry pending further investigation or be allowed to function under monitored conditions. If the victim is a minor, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is notified. If a priest is withdrawn from ministry, the State’s Attorney is notified. The policies, in other words, mandate disclosure of names and actions to the public authorities responsible for the protection of children and for public safety.

Besides concern for safeguarding children, the policies are also designed to bring help to victims. If the allegation is current, a meeting in the parish where the sexual abuse took place is called to ask if there are other victims who wish to come forward. Those who do come forward are told in writing of their right to report the allegation or accusation to the public authorities. There is a dedicated telephone line for reporting. There is victim assistance for psychological and spiritual counseling.

Does it work? It seems to me, from the reports I receive, that it has worked responsibly since the policies came into effect; but there may well be other victims who have been overlooked and not yet been helped. I am deeply grateful to all those involved in making the policies work, especially the members of the Review Board. Their careful judgment, case by case, has been indispensable.

In the light of national stories these past weeks, I have requested the Chancellor of the Archdiocese to review thoroughly the policies themselves, the procedures and protocols and systems in place to deal with sexual misconduct with minors by clergy. I have asked also for a supplementary review of active cases to be sure that we are doing all that we can administratively to protect children and adolescents. This review is looking at the Archdiocese’s relationship with civil authorities to see that our policies meet or exceed civil requirements. It is looking as well at conditions for the priests in question.

Lent is the season when the degree of our sinfulness made fully self-conscious leads us to experience anew the depth of God’s love in forgiving us. What we are reading in the papers now and hearing on radio and television is a painful way to examine one’s conscience. Sin can be forgiven. Christ died so that our sins would be forgiven, and he gave the power to forgive sins to the apostles. Sexual misconduct with minors can also be forgiven in the forge of divine love; but even forgiven sins have consequences. The Archdiocesan policies governing sexual misconduct by priests attempt to meet some of the consequences of this great sin.

For the rest, sexual misconduct with minors remains a problem more widespread than one would have imagined a generation ago. As we do penance this Lent for our own sins, let us do penance also for the sin of sexual abuse of minors, whether committed by a priest or anyone else. I have asked that a column by Cardinal Bernardin, written ten years ago to set out the societal context of this sin, which is also a crime, be reprinted now. As I write this, I have in mind the faces of victims I have met, and it is my prayer than what I am writing now will not have to be reprinted in ten years’ time. God bless you.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

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