I'm not exactly sure why my Google search agents did not pick up this story sooner, but nevertheless a several sites - including a U.S. based law firm, CBC Radio, a long running atheist news site and iNewsP.com - all have coverage of statements by a former Benedictine priest whose prior mission was to clean up the messy details of sexual abuse scandals from parish to parish. CBC Radio has an interview with the former priest, Patric Wall, where he discusses his former mission before deciding to leave the priesthood. He now serves as a consultant to California law firm. Here's the CBC Radio synopsis of the show featuring Wall:*
Bishop's Man - Patrick Wall
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For almost a decade, Patrick Wall played a special role in the Roman Catholic Church. A priest and a Benedictine Monk... he was also what's known as a "Fixer." He would be parachuted into a parish in the aftermath of allegations of sexual abuse. His job was to right the situation. And quickly, he became adept at making scandals go away.
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But over time, Patrick Wall became conflicted about the role he was playing. Eventually, his concerns pushed him to leave the Priesthood. Now, Patrick Wall spends his days helping people who have been abused by Church officials. He's a legal consultant and a Canon Lawyer with the U.S. law firm Manly and Stewart. He's also the author of Sex, Priests and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church's 2000-Year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse. Patrick Wall was in Los Angeles.
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Does any of this surprise me? Unfortunately, not in the least and what Wall was charged with doing was very much along the lines of what Cardinal Egan, former Archbishop of New York, and Thomas Daly, former Bishop of Brooklyn and Supreme Chaplin for the Knights of Columbus, did while stationed in the Boston Archdiocese: threaten, intimidate and pay hush money to victims and their families to keep them quiet. The Church's reputation came first and foremost and to hell with the molested children and youths. iNEWSP's article contains the following passages:
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Figures from the John Jay School of Criminal Justice, for example, estimate that since 1950, about 280,000 children have been sexually abused by Catholic Clergy and deacons. With the shame and denial that accompany sexual abuse, the real number must be much higher.
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Worse, this is NOT just a recent phenomenon. Father Thomas Doyle, a priest, and Richard Sipes and Patrick Wall, former monks, have written that the Catholic Church has recognized the problem of abuse by priests for 2,000 years. Their book, Sex, Priests and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church’s 2000 Year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse (Volt Press, 2006) was based on the Church’s own documents.
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And far from being the case of a few bad apples, Brooks Egerton and Reese Dunklin have reported that two-thirds of sitting US Bishops have been accused of moving pedophile priests to new assignments.[Dallas Morning News June 12, 2002] It is not the apples that are bad, it’s the barrel.
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The consistent abuse of children by priests is not a peripheral facet of the Catholic Church; it is the logical consequence of an entrenched male hierarchy’s inbred sense of its own privilege. Of course such behavior is the antithesis of the high ideals Jesus taught. But that is another way of saying that the Catholic Church has too often become the mortal enemy of those high ideals that are the Church’s only justification for existing.
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As for Wall's actions while serving as a "fixer,", here are some passages from the CBC Radio interview as reported by The Free Thinker:
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It was a job he did for almost a decade. He said that protecting the Church was paramount and that little or no concern was ever shown for the victims.
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Victims were regarded as a liability – a huge financial liability – and a big problem.Asked whether he ever considered reporting abuse to the police or child protection services, Wall said “never”.
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It was always about keeping the problem in-house and dealing with it in-house … it has been for centuries. The solution was always to move an abusive priest on, and to keep lay members in the dark with “pious answers” when they questioned the sudden disappearance of a priest from their parish, he said.
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You can listen to the broadcast here.
Figures from the John Jay School of Criminal Justice, for example, estimate that since 1950, about 280,000 children have been sexually abused by Catholic Clergy and deacons. With the shame and denial that accompany sexual abuse, the real number must be much higher.
*
Worse, this is NOT just a recent phenomenon. Father Thomas Doyle, a priest, and Richard Sipes and Patrick Wall, former monks, have written that the Catholic Church has recognized the problem of abuse by priests for 2,000 years. Their book, Sex, Priests and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church’s 2000 Year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse (Volt Press, 2006) was based on the Church’s own documents.
*
And far from being the case of a few bad apples, Brooks Egerton and Reese Dunklin have reported that two-thirds of sitting US Bishops have been accused of moving pedophile priests to new assignments.[Dallas Morning News June 12, 2002] It is not the apples that are bad, it’s the barrel.
*
The consistent abuse of children by priests is not a peripheral facet of the Catholic Church; it is the logical consequence of an entrenched male hierarchy’s inbred sense of its own privilege. Of course such behavior is the antithesis of the high ideals Jesus taught. But that is another way of saying that the Catholic Church has too often become the mortal enemy of those high ideals that are the Church’s only justification for existing.
*
As for Wall's actions while serving as a "fixer,", here are some passages from the CBC Radio interview as reported by The Free Thinker:
*
It was a job he did for almost a decade. He said that protecting the Church was paramount and that little or no concern was ever shown for the victims.
*
Victims were regarded as a liability – a huge financial liability – and a big problem.Asked whether he ever considered reporting abuse to the police or child protection services, Wall said “never”.
*
It was always about keeping the problem in-house and dealing with it in-house … it has been for centuries. The solution was always to move an abusive priest on, and to keep lay members in the dark with “pious answers” when they questioned the sudden disappearance of a priest from their parish, he said.
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You can listen to the broadcast here.
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