On the Sexual Abuse Scandal

From "In the Spirit of Transparency" - June 14, 2002

From Thursday to Saturday this week, the Catholic bishops of America will meet in Dallas to develop a draft policy addressing sexual abuse by priests and the need to ensure the protection of children. For the past several months leading to this conference, much media attention has been focused on hundreds of reported cases of such child molestations and sexual misconducts, and the unfortunate practice of concealment by some church authorities in dealing with these cases. The sustained media frenzy has spawned a similar frenzy of allegations of wrongdoings dating back to 20-30 years ago, some of which may be true and verifiable, a vast majority of which is suspect and without proof.

Several months ago, the Pope met with American cardinals to express his deep concerns about the crisis gripping the Catholic church in America and to urge corrective action. Dioceses conducted thorough reviews of their priest personnel: most of those under allegation were temporarily removed from their pastoral assignments pending the results of investigations by church and/or civil authorities; some were dismissed from their posts while others resigned or voluntarily removed themselves from office. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been paid to settle some of the cases; hundreds of millions more may need to be paid to satisfy court judgment. Meanwhile, the anti-Catholic, anti-Christian and anti-religion elements in media and in society seem to be gloating over the deepening crisis in our church.

Through all these, there appears to be a conspicuous and deafening silence on the part of the faithful. A few believers stood up to publicly defend our church and our faith, but their spirited defense failed to elicit resonant support from the majority of their fellow believers. Collections and pledges have decreased appreciably in some dioceses: can this be construed as an indication that the faithful is dissatisfied by the current state of affairs?

Yet there are many of the faithful who possess the right perspective on this crisis: this crisis is not faith-affecting, because our faith is founded on Jesus Christ and not on priests. While there indeed are aberrant priests in the church, the vast majority of priests are dedicated and true to their holy calling.

Even among those under allegation, some are innocent and should be exonerated after investigation. Those who may have committed a wrongdoing in the past but have since reformed their lives should be dealt with compassion. While some church leaders may have mishandled sexual abuse cases by priests in the past, the whole church has learned from these and is seeking a common way of dealing with such cases with justice for all.