Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010

Media spotlight lances abuse

The major re-emergence of clergy sexual abuse as front page news is yet another blow at the credibility of the Church and its priests. It shows that U.S. dioceses failed to learn the lessons learned throughout much of Canada during a similar eruption 10 to 15 years ago.

In Canada, we are still learning how to handle these cases that have caused so much harm to the innocent young. Being abused typically means that one's life is never the same – one has to deal for a lifetime with depression, self-loathing, lack of trust and other emotional fallout.

But the lessons we have learned are important: No credible accusation should be covered up – it must be reported to civil authorities. There should be a diocesan body, made up mainly of lay people, to oversee handling of such accusations. No priest guilty of abusing minors should ever be allowed to return to parish ministry. And those few who are compulsive offenders should never be allowed to return to any form of ministry.

The easy solution to these latter cases is to strip these priests of their priesthood. It is easy because it avoids future responsibility of the Church for their actions and it sends a sharp warning that child abuse is intolerable. However, by doing so, the former priest is left unsupervised and much freer to offend again. Far better to suspend the abuser from all ministry, keep him under close surveillance and try to prevent him from making any contact with potential victims. In this way the Church may be able to prevent future abuse.

The media have taken strong criticism within the Church for their coverage of clergy sexual abuse. It is true that the media behaves like a pack, swarming to any occasion of prurient news and that its coverage has tended to paint Catholic clergy as automatically suspect and has ignored other, more widespread, instances of abuse.

But without the media spotlight turned on this issue, one can be fairly certain that few major changes would have been made in how the Church handles abuse cases. This is a lesson of Canada for the U.S. – until the media zeroes in on clergy sexual abuse in one's own backyard, one will simply not give the issue the requisite attention to handle it much better than in the past.

Some see the clergy abuse "crisis" as a reason for ending the policy of mandatory clerical celibacy. This is to grossly misunderstand the issue. It is to assume that no human being can control his or her sexual urges. In fact, most priests remain true to their promises of celibacy while a higher percentage of abuse exists outside the clerical community than in it. The solution must be found elsewhere.

What is likely the case is that those who abuse have experienced the emotional or psychological sources of their sexual deviancy long before they enter the priesthood or some other state of life. For the priesthood, this calls for a far more rigorous personal analysis by competent authorities before, during and perhaps even after seminary training. The formation found in Canadian seminaries today is far more advanced than that available decades ago. It enables seminary authorities to weed out potential deviants beforehand and to give excellent personal formation enabling seminarians to grow personally.

One issue that remains is to provide meaningful restoration to the victims. This is a process that is not aided when a victim comes, understandably armed with a lawyer. Legal haranguing and a financial settlement are not the path to restoration and greater wholeness. The more likely result is increased bitterness. Better ways must be found to give the victim back his or her dignity to the extent possible.

The words of Pope John Paul ring true: "So much pain, so much sorrow must lead to a holier priesthood, a holier episcopate and a holier Church." The whole Church must turn to God "for forgiveness, for healing, and for the grace to meet this challenge with uncompromising courage and harmony of purpose."

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