Vatican misses chance to help heal wounds
Before the Pennsylvania Attorney General grand jury report probing clergy child sexual abuse in six Pennsylvania Roman Catholic dioceses, only a handful of dioceses nationwide had published lists of clergy credibly accused of abuse.
After the Catholic Diocese of Erie’s records were subpoenaed, Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico initiated an independent review of church files. Months before Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s report was published, Persico in April disclosed the results of the Erie diocese’s investigation — a list of clergy and laity deemed credibly accused of abuse or other misconduct with children. An adroit action that put the diocese in front of the scathing August grand jury report, it was also morally and pastorally spot on. Other bishops followed Persico’s example, not just in Pennsylvania, but across the nation.
The church implemented laudable reforms after the legacy of clergy abuse and coverup first gained global attention via reporting by The Boston Globe in the early 2000s. But the Pennsylvania grand jury report exposed the role bishops had played in this deplorable cycle, many without facing consequence. Expectations ran high that the just-ended meeting of the U.S. Conference of Bishops in Baltimore would deliver meaningful corrective measures. Persico was among leaders eager to advance reforms targeted at bishops’ accountability.
Instead, the Vatican intervened, requesting American bishops not act in advance of the Vatican’s global meeting on clergy abuse scheduled for February.
The delay deflates hope and, without clear messaging, signals that church leaders do not comprehend the urgent threat posed to their moral authority. Musings by Erie’s own former Bishop Donald W. Trautman, accused in the report of failing to aggressively pursue removal of an abusive priest, reinforce this. Trautman opposed some of the proposed reforms by criticizing journalists and investigators and arguing that sex abuse, part of the human condition, is found everywhere. That is a terrible premise for inaction by an institution whose leaders enabled the visitation of that particular original sin on its most vulnerable members.
Federal and state authorities are mounting investigations similar to Shapiro’s likely to reveal dismal failings of powerful shepherds nationwide. Indeed, the Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer recently reported that more than 130 U.S. bishops “have been accused of failing to adequately respond to sexual misconduct in their dioceses.” The church and lobbyists have for the moment staved off legal reforms in Pennsylvania that would allow victims to sue the church in court.
But two national lawsuits have been filed against the U.S. Catholic Church. One of them levels charges of racketeering. That may out truth, but at what cost?
The pastoral failings exposed by Shapiro’s report reside in plain view in the church’s own records. Make like Luke’s physician and heal thyself. – Erie Times
Throwing the book at criminals
It’s one thing to throw the book at a convicted criminal. It’s another thing to not let him read.
But, a book ban — or something pretty close to that — was put in place by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections in the fall in an effort to block a potential illicit drug pathway into prisons via book donations to prisoners.
Reducing drug trafficking behind bars is a good thing.
Limiting prisoners’ access to reading materials was not.
State prison system revises policy, will allow inmates to order books
A resolution has emerged, thanks to the DOC’s willingness to work with prisoner advocates and lawmakers. A new centralized processing center for book orders has been planned.
As things had stood, book donation programs and all mailorder books and publications were prohibited as the prison system battled a new method of drug smuggling: reading materials with paper soaked in synthetic cannabinoids (street name: K2.)
The DOC was to limit new reading material to more expensive e-books as well as to book orders placed on special jailhouse kiosks that, in the end, couldn’t handle the workload.
Under the security crackdown, prisoners were without adequate reading materials. The detriment was obvious.
Outcry from advocates for both books and prisoners ensued. And the DOC became inspired.
The updated policy will allow book donation organizations direct contact with inmates via a centralized screening and processing center at a state institution in Bellefonte. Also, family and friends can order books on behalf of inmates and those books can be shipped directly from publishers or bookstores to the same processing center.
Time is in big supply behind state prison bars. Worthwhile ways to the pass that time? Not so much. The DOC should be doing all it can to encourage more prisoners to read more. As they used to say: Reading is “fun”damental.