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The Chicago Tribune reports:
The sexual abuse of children happened on his watch.
And so for the first time, Cardinal Francis George on Tuesday opened the books on a litany of failures by church officials as he announced a $12.7 million lawsuit settlement by the Chicago Roman Catholic Archdiocese.
By releasing the details and unveiling his own sworn deposition, the archbishop revealed a flawed and secretive system where priests and bishops employed by the archdiocese to this day protected their own.
Some victims' advocates say the cardinal's wholesale disclosure also signaled a new era of cooperation that will prevent wrongdoing in the future and hasten the healing process for victims.
"This goes a long way to help those survivors in their recovery," victims' attorney Jeff Anderson said. "They have begun the process of coming clean and transparent in a way they have never done before. It's now no longer about secrets. It's about protection."
(Full story in the Chicago Tribune for August 13, 2008)
The following is also from the Chicago Tribune.
ReplyDelete"Standing in front of the archdiocese offices on Wednesday morning, David Clohessy, of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said that although the cardinal apologized, he did not assure parishioners such errors would no longer be tolerated.
Clohessy and other victims also want the archdiocese's Web site to post the photos, addresses and work histories of abusive priests, similar to the Philadelphia archdiocese."
"Right now, the Chicago archdiocese only lists the priests' names, ordination dates and status. An archdiocese spokeswoman said people seeking additional information on the priests can write to the chancellor's office."
"We want him to promise he will never leave a priest in place after four allegations have been made. We want him to promise he will never try to free a convicted child molester from prison early," Clohessy said.
"The deposition included details on the investigation of 11 priests, including Daniel McCormack, Joseph Bennett and Norbert Maday. The McCormack scandal triggered outrage when it was discovered that the archdiocese failed to remove him from St. Agatha Roman Catholic Church years after initial allegations of abuse were made."
"In the investigation of Bennett, the deposition said the cardinal and church officials received four detailed allegations of sexual abuse dating to 2002. But they did not remove Bennett from his South Holland church until February 2006."
"Regarding Norbert Maday, the deposition showed that George worked to reduce the abusive priest's 20-year prison sentence. Maday is accused of abusing 35 to 45 children and remains incarcerated in Wisconsin."
"Cardinal George said he changed his view of Maday after 2002 when more allegations came forward and he began to realize the man "had seriously abused many, many innocent children."
My personal comments -
Cardinal George was recently elected by his fellow bishops to be the head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Based on his history, do you think his fellow bishops take the sexual abuse of children seriously (enough)? If they did, how could they elect him as their leader? In any other organization, a person with Cardinal George’s record in this area could NEVER be elected to a leadership position.
BWT, Boston area Survivors and their advocates have repeatedly asked Cardinal O’Malley to post the same information about credibly accused priests from the Archdiocese of Boston. He has refused to publish any information on the RCAB website.
The Chicagoland affiliate of Voice of the Faithful, had these comments and important questions regarding justice for abuse victims and financial accountability of the diocese.
ReplyDeleteCONTACT: Sandy Stilling Seehausen
President: Chicagoland Voice of the Faithful (VOTF)
847-987-8188 slstillsee@aol.com
Chicagoland Voice of the Faithful Response to Archdiocesan Sex Abuse Settlement.
Chicagoland Voice of the Faithful is grateful that this settlement of 12.6 plus million dollars was finally reached. We applaud the courageous survivors who came forth to continue to speak the truth to the world and the attorneys who fought for justice for them. We, too, hope this settlement will indeed help somewhat in their healing from “soul murder”.
Questions remain: how many more victims are out there? How will these victims be treated? Will anything change or will the Archdiocese fight tooth and nail until it is seen they cannot “win” in court and therefore offer financial settlements? No amount of money or countless apologies can ever make up for the harm caused the innocent victims.
Besides the 65 million dollars admittedly paid out to date by the Archdiocese, what is the true cost for clergy sexual abuse and failure to protect innocent children? How much has been spent on “hush money”. How much has been spent on costly lawyers to defend the Archdiocese? Who of the guilty accomplices has lost their job? To say that the settlement monies “do not come from donations” presupposes that the laity are stupid, for surely the properties sold were donated by someone.
We in the Archdiocese of Chicago will no longer be lulled into trusting our appointed leader by apologies and financial payouts. We may begin to have confidence in church leaders when they are more accountable to the laity by being more forthcoming and transparent in all their financial and pastoral transactions. Perhaps it can be said that Cardinal George has made a small step in that direction, but not without additional actions in Chicago and as elected leader of the USCCB in holding guilty bishops accountable. Finally, the Cardinal used the same words as the Pope who said that “we must continue to do everything in our power to ensure the safety of the children in our care”. That would include supporting SOL reform in Springfield and cease sending lobbyists to Springfield to stop SOL reform.
I just read the Chicago Tribune article. I am filled with a feeling of revulsion. Such slimy, sordid acts and such slimy, sordid lengths to which the archdiocese went to try to protect the perpetrators. Disgusting. Will these revelations never end?
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