Well, the dust has more or less settled from the big Papal conference of American cardinals and bishops. The result?
Not a heck of a lot.
- Despite a couple of press conference assertions to the contrary, no actual policy was decided. That will be up to a June conference of American bishops — with final approval going back to the Vatican. But as far as the direction of the policy, it seems to be only booting out of the priesthood and ministerial duties “notorious” priests found guilty of “serial, predatory, sexual abuse of minors.” For priests who are not “notorious” (hitting the headlines) or not deemed to be a “serial, predatory” abuser, it’s up to the bishop how to handle it. Which is basically the status quo. Big frelling deal, and a far cry from the Zero Tolerance policy that many are calling for.
- Sexual abuse of minors by priests is now officially deemed to be a Bad Thing. That’s comforting to know.
- Sexual abuse of minors by priests is now officially recognized to be against the law, too. That’s refreshing. Unfortunately, there’s not yet a consensus as to when civil authorities (the police) should be called in.
- The bishops (and the Pope) admitted that “failure in episcopal oversight “allowed these problems to occur. That’s putting it mildly. It also only true if you include “actively covering up matters” to be an example of the failures.
- The hierarchy is still trying to handle this as an internal matter, amongst the ordained, rather than something that affects — and needs to be resolved with — the entire Church, including the laity. The press conferences held were very sparsely attended by the cardinals. And the official communique from the cardinals, while released to the public, was not addressed to the Church as a whole, but to priests. Big mistake, in my opinion.
- Cardinal Law of Boston, the most “notorious” of bishops to have shuffled around abusers between parishes, will be either rewarded or punished (pick your interpretation) by being given an undetermined post at the Vatican. No doubt this is meant to appease conservatives (by giving Law an important post) and critics (by getting Law out of the diocese and preeminance among American bishops), but I suspect it will please nobody — and rightly so.
A side note here, because I’ve certainly ridiculed Zero Tolerance laws and regulations in the past. ZT is worth ridicule when there are clearly cases where what is being regulated can be or is innocuous. A ZT rule that expels a kid because a steak knife from taking donations to the Salvation Army slipped down into the bed of his pickup truck and it wasn’t noticed until he’s at school, that’s stupid. But having a ZT policy that says a single case of a priest molesting a child — with appropriate definitions for “molest” and “child” — doesn’t strike me as all that stupid, any more than having a ZT policy that expels kids who shoot other kids at school is stupid. There are some things that cannot be tolerated, and confirmed sexual contact between priests and children is one of them.
It’s worth noting that there is not unanimity amongs the bishops on all these issues. We may very well see a more straightforward and effective result in June. Or we may not.
Some bishops continue to seek wiggle room here in determining who to discipline, and when the police should be called. I have sympathy for them to this extent, that we certainly need to make sure we don’t go overboard to the other extreme. Unfounded or unproven accusations are already damaging enough, and summary dismissal from ministerial responsibilities based on such accusations cannot be tolerated either. And there is apparently concern by the Pope, based on his life experiences in Communist Poland, that summary dismissals by bishops could be used as a political weapon against priests.
But that’s the purpose for the purifying eye of publicity. By burying things, by paying off accusers, by simply shuffling people silently out of one parish and into another, not only have some bishops done a tremendous disservice to their parishioners and folks who have been abused, but they do a tremendous disservice to priests who have been unjustly accused.
And that disservice can be demonstrated this simply. Once upon a time, I think most people would have summarily dismissed, without some sort of concrete proof, the idea of a priest having molested a child. Now I think many people, both inside and outside of the Church, would be much more willing to believe such an accusation, well-founded or not.
As Jesus put it (John 8:31-32) , “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Words some of the bishops would do well to consider.
(Via USS Clueless, with some nice analysis, here and here)