‘Right to know’

Little Rock bishop talks to churches about abuser-priest list.

At Our Lady of Good Counsel Church on Sunday, parishioners listened to a recorded homily of Bishop Anthony Taylor speaking about his decision last week to release the names of 12 Catholic priests against whom “credible allegations” of sexual abuse had been made over the past 70 years.

The message was played during Masses at all Catholic churches in the Little Rock diocese, which Taylor heads — and was aired at the church after the release on Sept. 10 of the findings of an internal review. A copy of the letter from Taylor with the findings — which included a tally of around 23 known victims in Arkansas — was handed out with church bulletins, along with a list of frequently asked questions pertaining to past and future handling of such cases.

After a Pennsylvania grand jury report released last month revealed more than 300 priests sexually abused more than 1,000 children over a 70-year period, Taylor said, parish members asked for an account of any abuse cases in Arkansas, and how they were handled.

“Although most of our perpetrators are now dead and none have been in active ministry in the Catholic church for a very long time, I believe full disclosure is simply the right thing to do,” said Taylor.

“This is your church and you have a right to know.”

According to Taylor, about 700 priests have served in the diocese over the past seven decades, and of the 12 priests, the names of eight were “completely new” to him. Allegations against eight of the priests were categorized as substantiated, while the allegations against the remaining four could not be substantiated, such as in the case of those priests who were dead and could not be questioned. None of the abuse had been committed after the implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in 2002.

Kinsale Management Consulting, which has conducted similar investigations in other dioceses in the U.S., is currently conducting an outside review, of which Taylor said he hopes the findings will be released in December.

After Taylor’s homily, Josh Stengel, Our Lady of Good Counsel’s pastor, addressed the congregation on the subject of sexual abuse by clergy in the church for the fourth consecutive week.

“I know some of you are ready for us to talk about other things, but it’s the importance of truth that needs to be brought into the light, and I want to thank the bishop for this transparency in bringing this to our attention,” said Stengel in his homily.

The church had held a 24-hour prayer vigil that started at 8 a.m. Friday. Stengel led the vigil for the 12 hours from 8 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Saturday with prayer and fasting — something that Diane Hanley, a 41-year member of the church, said was offered in reparation for crimes against the victims.

According to Stengel, Taylor has also requested the end of any public recognition of the priests on the clergy disclosure lists. Photos of a previous pastor at St. Teresa Church in Little Rock, he said, had already been taken down.

“We don’t honor in any way those who have done such horrible things,” Stengel said.

Antonia Oaoha of Little Rock called the news of the abuse “quite unfortunate,” but said Taylor handled the disclosure well.

[Taylor] did it with dignity and respect to the victims,” said Oaoha. “I think he did the right thing, [and] God will show us a way to heal and overcome this.”

Hanley said abuse in the Catholic church is an “infection [that] has to be drained out.”

“It’s nasty and stinky, and it’s awful,” said Hanley, who was married at Our Lady of Good Counsel and whose three children were baptized there. “But it can’t heal if you pretend it’s not there. … It makes us very angry for what was done and what was covered up.

“The stuff that’s in the letter that [Taylor] left and even Pennsylvania’s is old stuff,” Hanley added. “But that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t hurt … when we have to get the infection out and let God heal it, we may look different by the end. But we’re not leaving the church. We know our faith is not in any one priest or any one bishop or in any one man — it’s in Jesus Christ. And I really love that [Taylor] took the lead in saying, ‘Please find the courage to speak out.’”

“We are very sad, very shocked,” said Lucy Jimenez of Little Rock. “This is something we don’t like to see not just in the Catholic church, but just anywhere.”

Taylor voiced hope that bringing the knowledge of the abuse to light would be the beginning of healing to the victims — while encouraging others to come forward — and said he applauded their courage.

“It takes much courage to make this admission and it takes trust,” said Taylor. “And trust is something that gets twisted and manipulated by the abuser, as well as by the institutions that helped protect the abuser.

“So stepping forward is that much more difficult and will not occur until the victim feels safe and is confident that he or she will be heard. And that is the task before the Church today.”