Breaking Faith - The Catholic Church Again Betrays Victims

I blogged about the bankruptcy filing by the Catholic Archdiocese of Wilmington towards the first of the week - literally on the eve of the commencement of civil suits brought by the victims of predator priests. In the aftermath of the filing, many have criticized the Church's tactics, including the Philadelphia Inquirer which carried a scathing editorial basically accusing the archdiocese of continuing the cover up efforts. The editorial is on point because the bankruptcy filing by the archdiocese - the 7th diocese in the USA to file for bankruptcy protection - was clearly intended to halt the civil trials and likely had the intent of intimidating plaintiffs to settle their claims and keep the lurid details out of the media. Pope Benedict XVI can claim remorse, but until the Church faces the damage done to victims and punishes members of the hierarchy who engaged in cover ups and/or enabled predator priests, such feigned contrition will be false and yet more lies to the public and the Church laity. Here are some highlights from the editorial:

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The best way for Wilmington's Roman Catholic Bishop W. Francis Malooly to demonstrate his stated concern for "all victims of sexual abuse by priests of our diocese" would be to give those victims their day in court. Instead, Malooly's eleventh-hour decision Sunday to file for bankruptcy protection effectively halted the first of eight clergy sex-abuse trials set to start the next day. That will have the net effect to further delay or perhaps thwart many victims' long quest for justice.

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In other words, the bishop claims he doesn't want one big verdict to deplete the church coffers and leave nothing for the other victims. Puh-leeze.

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Given the real-world impact of the bankruptcy claim, there's no way around the perception that Delaware church officials have ducked for cover - in what one attorney for an abuse-case plaintiff called "scandal prevention." Indeed, the first trial in a civil damages lawsuit brought by a former altar boy, John M. Vai, 57, would have revealed chilling testimony about violent sex acts by a priest from 1966 to 1970, according to Vai's attorneys. Now, those embarrassing allegations and many others won't be aired in open court for months and months, if at all. Nor will the public hear any details of church leaders' efforts to cover for predator priests.

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In Philadelphia alone, hundreds of abuse victims have been awaiting justice since a scathing grand jury report in 2005. The report concluded that 63 archdiocesan priests had sexually abused children and that top church leaders helped cover for some. But church officials across the nation continue to fight statute moratoriums with specious claims that victims' lawsuits will lead to parish closings, and several dioceses have resorted to the dubious bankruptcy claim.

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Had Wilmington church officials allowed the civil cases to go forward, they would have avoided the perception that the cover-up continues.

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The moral bankruptcy of the Catholic Church hierarchy continues unabated. Sadly, given the Church's governance structure, there is little hope that things will change anytime soon. Lies, cover ups and tactics to further abuse victims remain the norm.