Editor's Desk: Restored Honor

By Michael F. Flach
Herald Editor
(From the issue of 5/23/02)

Nearly four years ago I wrote an editorial "Where’s the Honor?" (ACH 8/27/98) in which I deplored a series of damaging news reports about the sexual misconduct of Catholic priests in Ireland, Dallas, Fort Worth and Stockton. In nearly every case, the initial damage done to innocent children and their families was compounded by attempts of those in authority to protect the abusing priests rather than the victims. The Church lost hundreds of millions of dollars.

"These cases are not the work of vindictive or disgruntled parishioners," I wrote at the time. "We are well past the point where apologies from bishops or other diocesan officials will suffice. The damage being done to these innocent children and their families is criminal, and should be dealt with swiftly and severely. Get the offending priests away from children and help restore the Catholic priesthood to its rightful place of honor."

I was convinced, in 1998, of two things: the news of such scandals couldn’t get any worse and Church officials had seen the errors of their ways and would stop trying to cover up for predatory priests. I was wrong on both accounts.

This week alone we have heard the profound, heartfelt apologies of three U.S. cardinals -- Baltimore’s William Keeler, Boston’s Bernard Law and Los Angeles’ Roger Mahony -- for failing to act swiftly against offending priests in their respective archdioceses.

In a letter faxed to all his priests, Cardinal Mahony apologized for having returned a former Los Angeles priest to ministry in the late 1980s after the man admitted he had sexually abused two minors. "As your archbishop, I assume full responsibility for allowing (the priest) to remain in any type of ministry during the 1990s," Cardinal Mahony said. "If I had known in those years what I discovered in early 2000, I would have dismissed him from all ministry and requested his dismissal from the priesthood in the late 1980s."

The cardinal also reaffirmed his commitment to cooperate with law enforcement officials and make available to the district attorney all documents related to "any known or suspected instances of child abuse" in the archdiocese.

In other recent incidents, an accused priest from Bridgeport, undergoing psychological observation for sexual misconduct, apparently committed suicide at St. Luke’s Institute in nearby Maryland. A priest from Baltimore was shot last week by a man who had accused the priest of abuse nearly a decade ago.

One can only guess, at this point, what will transpire at the spring meeting of the U.S. Catholic bishops in Dallas next month. Vatican officials believe it would be wrong for bishops to report all sex abuse allegations to civil authorities, a policy that has been adopted by an increasing number of U.S. dioceses.

The crux of the issue, these canon law specialists believe, is that bishops should be functioning as pastors, not policemen. They believe that when bishops start acting as reporting agents for the state, they compromise their own pastoral goals -- one of which is to retrieve an errant priest and rehabilitate him spiritually.

In the meantime, dioceses across the country are attempting to atone for their sins and restore the Church’s honor. In Arlington, Bishop Paul S. Loverde is asking all Catholics to take part in a Day of Prayer on June 7 and a nine-day novena from June 7-15. Friday, June 14, will be day of fast and abstinence (see "Encourage and Teach with Patience" on page seven).

We can only hope that this time, honor will be restored.—M.F.F.

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