Report on clergy abuse spurs wave of probes
The explosive report about sexual abuse by Catholic priests unveiled by a Pennsylvania grand jury in August has set off an unprecedented wave of investigations over the last several months, with attorneys general in 14 states and the District of Columbia announcing probes and demanding documents from Catholic officials. Those efforts have been joined by a federal investigation out of Philadelphia that may become national in scope.
The swift and sweeping response by civil authorities contrasts sharply with the Vatican’s comparatively glacial pace. While some U.S. dioceses have published lists of priests they say have been credibly accused of sexual abuse and two cardinals have been ousted, the Vatican this month put on hold a vote by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on measures to hold bishops more accountable until after a global synod in early 2019. In the meantime, Rome has done little to address the crisis.
“The Catholic Church has proven that it cannot police itself,” said Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, whose state is among those investigating.
The new investigations are taking place in a very different climate than existed in 2002, when the Boston Globe exposed decades of abuse and coverups in that city. Many lay Catholics have lost faith in the church’s ability to right itself and are pushing for civil authorities to hold high-ranking church officials accountable. There’s also a greater willingness by law enforcement to do battle with a church that has become a far less formidable local presence. And the graphic grand jury report has spurred widespread public outrage.
The result of a two-year investigation, the 800-page Pennsylvania grand-jury report was graphic in detailing repeated incidents of sexual molestation by more than 1,000 priests in six dioceses. In strong language, it openly condemned the church’s role in covering up the abuse. Archbishop Donald Wuerl of the Archdiocese of Washington was forced to retire after allegations that he covered up clergy sex abuse in Pittsburgh when he was bishop there.
“Priests were raping little boys and girls,” the grand jury wrote, “and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing, they hid it all. For decades.”
Since the report’s release Aug. 14, attorneys general in Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, D.C., have launched criminal investigations into the church.
While some dioceses have begun publishing lists on their own, many Catholics and victim advocates are skeptical about how far the church will go in excavating its past.
Experts who work with U.S. dioceses on financial and legal matters say church leaders are worried about the growing list of state investigations and aren’t sure where the effort is heading — and what it could mean.
Charles Zech, of the Center for the Study of Church Management at the Villanova School of Business, said most bishops or diocesan officials probably won’t welcome the probes.
“The church is very secretive. It’s the nature of clericalism” to buck against this, Zech said. Many are particularly unwilling to share accountability with laypeople, he added.
Zech doubted the financial impact would be crippling to the U.S. church unless more states chose to extend their statutes of limitations for civil suits.
The investigations also are welcomed by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a national group.
“The church, after 16 years, has had ample opportunity and time to right the ship,” said Mark Crawford, the director of SNAP’s New Jersey office.
However, Crawford said he would prefer to see statutes of limitation lifted.