Two years on, grand jury’s impact on diocese still lingers
Two years after a landmark grand jury report told a sordid history of sexual abuse by priests and its cover-up by their superiors, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh is still coming to terms with its impact.
Just this week, 28 people filed lawsuits or notices of intent to sue in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, while a local lay group issued a report sharply critical of the diocese’s response, which it said is marked by “clericalism” and a bunker mentality.
Bishop David Zubik said Friday he marked the somber anniversary with prayers at Mass for the survivors of abuse. He said he believes the diocese has taken important steps in responding to the report, even as it undergoes a vast program of parish mergers and responds to unanticipated challenges, such as the pandemic.
“Over the course of the two years, we’ve worked very hard to be ever more present to victim/survivors and acknowledge their need for healing,” he said.
On Aug. 14, 2018, a statewide grand jury issued a report into sexual abuse and cover-up spanning seven decades in six of Pennsylvania’s dioceses, including Pittsburgh’s. The report made headlines worldwide and, combined with scandals elsewhere during what one Catholic journal called a
“summer of shame,” triggered the most intensive wave of scrutiny in years over the scandal.
Most of the report covered decades-old cases, and in its response, the diocese noted it had implemented reforms in recent decades that had included better screening and training of priests and the barring of abusers from ministry without exception. Still, the report revealed many instances of abuse previously not made public and reported on missteps even in more recent cases.
The report said more than 300 priests in six dioceses statewide, including more than 90 in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, had sexually abused children since the late 1940s.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh has since launched a compensation fund for victims, administered by an independent law firm. That program, which received 367 applicants, is still processing claims; Bishop Zubik said he anticipated it would be completed this fall.
He acknowledged the pool of available funds is limited, although he said it hasn’t been lowered by the recent economic slump or other changes. Lawyers representing survivors have said the diocese has offered lower amounts than other dioceses to survivors who had suffered comparable levels of abuse.
On Thursday, 14 people filed suits against the diocese, alleging abuse by priests, and another 14 filed notices of intent to sue. That adds to at least 30 more legal claims filed earlier this year in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. The lawsuits, alleging abuse that occurred decades earlier, are based on a claim the diocese committed an ongoing conspiracy and fraud, a legal theory being tested before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a pending case involving a different diocese.
On Friday, meanwhile, the group Catholics for Change in Our Church, issued a report card on the diocese’s response to the grand jury after two years. The group claims more than 1,000 members and seeks to boost the role of laypeople in the church while supporting victims of abuse and promoting transparency in the diocese. The group gave the diocese particularly low marks in addressing clericalism — or top-down leadership by priests — and said the diocese has failed to grasp how deeply the scandal has caused a breach of trust in the church. The highest grade it gave in any category was a B-, for reforms in responding to victims, though it said progress was uneven.
“It’s two years in,” said group vice president Kevin Hayes. “People are tired; people are frustrated.”
He said diocesan officials in many cases “started to take steps and then either the steps were just gestures, and there wasn’t enough follow-through or things were initiated but not completed.”
The group said it was disappointed that, after having four regularly scheduled meetings with Bishop Zubik, he ended those meetings, saying they would be replaced with a program including a dialogue with more people and groups. But that, too, was canceled before it was launched.
“At the diocesan level, the Bishop and his central administration are demonstrating by their actions that
top‐down their approach is a one for answers and solutions,” the group’s report said, adding many parishioners, too, abet this process with apathy rather than involvement.
Mr. Hayes said group members have heard priests and others in the church say “we need to move on” from the crisis. “The fact is that healing hasn’t happened — and needs to happen.”
Bishop Zubik said he does continue to consult with laypersons, noting many board and staff positions are filled by “laypeople coming with a love for the church.” He said initiatives such as On Mission for the Church Alive, in which parishes are merging across the diocese, was implemented only after hearings involving thousands of lay attendees.
“Clericalism can mean different things to different people,” he added. He said his emphasis, beginning with seminarians, is “if you’re going to be serious about becoming a priest, you’ve got to be keyed in to being a servant for people.”
He said the meetings with Catholics for Change in Our Church were productive, but he needs to bring other lay groups and individuals into dialogue, too. He had planned a program for such discussions but realized, after some planning, “we have so much going on, and I felt it was an overload.” But he said such dialogues can continue in other forms. “I hope people see how committed I am to consultation and to inviting laypeople to be involved,” he said.
The diocese on Friday appointed a new director of victim assistance ministry, which combines a longstanding role of outreach to victims with a broader mission that includes promoting ongoing support for them in parishes. The appointee, Laetitia Bridges, brings experience both in ministry and in licensed counseling to the position, which is part of a secretariat, or administrative structure, created in the wake of the report’s release and devoted entirely to protection of children and other vulernable persons. “It’s a matter of making people in our faith communities aware of the healing that needs to take place,” the bishop said.
The diocese has acknowledged drops in financial giving even before the pandemic, which caused further declines, although less than anticipated. Bishop Zubik said it would be impossible to determine how much of the decline might be due to anger over the scandals or the parish mergers compared with other factors, such as the economic slump or secularization. But a result has been numerous staff cuts at the diocesan level.
Other numbers are also down, including Catholic school enrollment and participation in sacraments. That’s the backdrop for the ongoing mergers of parishes and schools, which have added further stress on priests and laypeople alike. But Bishop Zubik still sees the program as creating a more streamlined and vibrant church.
“I believe that initiative is going much better and stronger than I would have anticipated,” he said. “While it isn’t easy to make these kinds of shifts, the primary reason for this is to bring people closer together.”