Less Than Full Disclosure of Sexual Predators Still the Catholic Church Norm

As reported last week, the Roman Catholic Church launched an anti-gay, anti-same sex marriage initiative and website on November 14, 2011. The ostensible purpose is to "protect marriage" and uphold societal integrity. Or so says the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops even though a recent poll disclosed that opposition to same-sex marriage is important to only 35% of American Catholics. And if one is truly concerned about societal integrity, the rooting out and punishment of sexual predators who sexually abuse children and youths would seem to be a very important issue. But not so - at least for the Catholic Bishops. As a Boston Globe story reveals, even Cardinal O’Malley of Boston (the archdiocese where the sex abuse scandal first exploded) who has been credited with going public in identifying abusers turns out to have been playing games and withholding names of predators. To me the issue is very simply, unless and until the bishops do a thorough house cleaning of their own ranks and identify ALL of the predators that the hierarchy enabled or covered up for, these nasty men in dresses have ZERO standing to lecture anyone on morality or issues of societal integrity and order. Here are highlights from the Globe piece that shows that the same old games are still being played:

’Malley, facing opposition from some in the church to publishing such a list at all, in the end released a very selective accounting, limited to priests originally from the Boston Archdiocese - and thus directly under its supervision - and excluding members of religious orders, including O’Malley’s own Capuchin friars.

The result is that 70 accused clerics, including some with notorious reputations and many alleged victims, are not listed at all, a Globe review of church records has found. To critics of the church it is a disheartening sign that nearly 10 years after Boston became the epicenter of the global sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, the Boston Archdiocese is still struggling to face its troubled past.

The cardinal’s decision has also undercut his reputation as a reformer among some victims of clergy abuse, who worry that omitting any accused abuser’s name from the official list, which is published on the archdiocese’s website, only lowers the chances of further victims summoning the courage to come forward. It puts him at odds with most of the 33 dioceses that have released more complete lists of accused priests, though it compares favorably with the vast majority of the nation’s 195 dioceses, which have released no official lists at all.

Among those left off the Boston list are Fidelis DeBerardinis, a Catholic brother completing an eight-year prison term for preying on altar boys at an East Boston parish; the late Rev. Paul M. Desilets, a one-time Bellingham priest who served 17 months for molesting more than a dozen altar boys; and the Rev. James F. Talbot, who served a six-year sentence for raping two Boston College High School students.

“It’s heartbreaking to think the church has all this information about accused religious order priests and priests from other dioceses and isn’t releasing it,’’ said Terence McKiernan, the founder of BishopAccountability.org, a group that maintains records of accused clergy and also advocates for victims. “O’Malley’s list is just one pretty obvious example of a concerted effort to appear transparent and pastoral while trying to make sure that a lot of this goes back under the radar.’’

[T]he Vatican has allowed bishops wide discretion in responding to the clergy sexual abuse crisis, and bishops in some other dioceses have not felt bound by a narrow reading like O’Malley’s, according to a recent survey by BishopAccountability.org.

[C]ritics say that O’Malley’s approach is designed to limit the likelihood of new victims coming forward and thus of future financial liability for an archdiocese that has already paid out $147 million in settlements and another $43.5 million to cover legal costs, counseling for victims, and sexual abuse prevention initiatives. “The driving force in not releasing a full list is money,’’ said Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney who represents clergy sex abuse victims.

Massachusetts’ chief law enforcement official warned O’Malley in advance that his list would draw public criticism. Attorney General Martha Coakley, a former Middlesex District Attorney who supervised the prosecution of the late Rev. John J. Geoghan, a serial pedophile and a symbol of the Boston abuse crisis, said she repeatedly told the archdiocese that O’Malley’s plan was inadequate to ensure public safety and assuage the concerns of victims.

Same sex couples in committed relationships getting married pose nowhere near the danger to society that the criminal enterprise of deceit, sexual abuse of minors, cover up and lies of the good bishops poses. As I've said before, the best thing that could happen would be to see that majority of the bishops behind bars.