Column
by
Archbishop John G. Vlazny
|
Archbishop's
Column by Archbishop John G. Vlazny |
Church seeks healing for everyone harmed
by clergy abuse
10/27/00
On Oct. 10 a press conference was held
in Portland to announce the
settlement of 23 cases of child abuse
involving a priest of the
archdiocese. These incidents occurred
some 25 to 50 years ago. But time
does not take away the gravity of the
situation or the depth of the
victims’ pain. Once the credibility of
the accusations was evident, there
was no need to exacerbate the situation
any further by prolonged
litigation. The Church sought the assistance
of professional mediators,
and both sides were well served.
Earlier this year I had used this column
to inform you about procedures
the archdiocese was using at the time
in dealing with the allegations of
abuse. This occurred in the midst of an
ongoing and difficult process,
particularly as the number of allegations
increased. In May the
plaintiffs’ attorney held a press conference
and raised a number of
concerns about the way the archdiocese
was dealing with these matters. At
the time, I felt our sincere effort to
be fair and compassionate was
misrepresented. I wanted to write to you
again, but the judge in charge of
the mediation put a gag order on both
sides. He felt any further exchanges
in public would not assist the efforts
to mediate an already tense
situation. I am sorry if you were puzzled
by my silence at the time, but I
did want to move forward with all of this
as cooperatively and
expeditiously as possible.
One news report the evening the settlement
was announced headlined its
story with the words, “The Archbishop
finally confesses.” Well, that
wasn’t exactly accurate, but it was reasonably
close. In fact, I did
extend a public apology to the victims,
to all aggrieved parties and to
you, my sisters and brothers. As people
of faith, you deserve better. When
someone entrusted with sacred leadership
violates that trust and hurts
others, especially children, relationships
are severely impaired. Justice
involves working for right relationships
between people. When someone has
been so grievously wronged, every effort
must be made to make things
right. That is why I apologized. I wanted
to make forgiveness possible.
Both an apology and an expression of forgiveness
are needed for healing.
The Church will continue to do its best
to make sure that the apology is
heard and reinforced with good deeds.
Child sexual abuse is a travesty not only
for the Church but for all of
society. Over the past 14 years, the Church
has been publicly humiliated
all over the world by the revelation of
sexual misconduct on the part of
clergy, religious and laity who represented
and served the Church.
Obviously, when the perpetrators are priests,
in virtue of the sacred
character conferred upon them by the sacrament
of Holy Orders, the
violation is all the more devastating
and heartrending. I am the first to
admit that a priest is just as human as
anyone else, but he is and must be
held to a higher standard of behavior.
On the other hand, because the church too
has become involved in these
revelations of sexual impropriety, I truly
believe it is now far easier
for society at large to deal with the
other instances of child sexual
abuse which occur in the community, in
our schools and even at home.
Together we are working to prevent future
occurrences of the same nature.
The secrecy and deceit to which the plaintiffs
refer in their statements
are not alleged “disclaimers” unique to
the church in such matters. The
same evasions have been utilized everywhere
in society. Nowadays, both our
preoccupation with sexuality and the cultural
malaise which advances the
cause of free sex anywhere, anytime at
anyone’s expense greatly facilitate
the irresponsible exploitation of sexuality,
particularly with respect to
those who are psychologically unhealthy
and relationally very immature.
Our law and our praxis seem to be going
in opposite directions.
My heart goes out to our good and faithful
priests who have been unfairly
discredited by these revelations and accusations.
We are bruised but not
beaten. We now know the sins of another
brother. We also know our own
human failings. As a priestly community
we pledge once again to continue
to work for reconciliation and healing
among all our people. We have all
learned from hard experience that true
reconciliation occurs only when
there is an ownership of responsibility
for this behavior and a
willingness to forgive and to begin again.
Throughout this difficult year, I am most
grateful to the two judges who
served as mediators, the attorneys who
represented the archdiocese and all
my colleagues who worked on behalf of
the church in order to bring a
resolution to these complaints. The compassion
and search for true justice
which they brought to their work are commendable.
It is true that these
abuses all took place many years ago when
people were less accustomed to
such complaints and obviously very unsure
about the appropriate way to
handle them. Nevertheless, the pain was
just as real for the victims then
as it would be today under similar circumstances.
The society in which we live has decided
to punish very severely those
whom they judge responsible for child
sexual abuse. The law of our state
demands that you and I, the Catholic community
of western Oregon in the
year 2000, be responsible for the misconduct
of a priest many years ago
and the mistaken trust placed in him when
he received a priestly
assignment. We may differ about the gravity
of the punishment and the
extent of liability, but we certainly
do not choose in any way to
discredit victims for seeking healing
and justice on their own behalf.
When all is said and done, as your bishop,
I approach this matter with the
heart of a pastor. Those who were violated
are my brothers. The depth of
their hurt was so real that most have
distanced themselves from the
Catholic Church which was their home.
As I told several of them, I pray
that one day they will feel at home among
us all over again. But I can
accept the fact that this may not be possible
for some. I shall continue
to pray for them so that God will be able
to bless them and stand in their
need.
These accusations were called to my attention
in late 1999, just before
the beginning of our celebration of the
Great Jubilee Year. Jubilee, as we
all now know, is a time when people of
faith try once again to right all
wrongs, forgive debts, seek reconciliation
and come together as one human
family.
I ask all of you to pray for true healing
on the part of victims of sexual
abuse, particularly those who were violated
as children by servants of the
church. We have been talking all year
about the need to “open wide the
doors to Christ.” We do see Jesus Christ
in the face of these victims.
We open the doors of our hearts and churches
to these men and ask them to
extend the hand of friendship to all of
us, their sisters and brothers,
once again.