Catholic Theologians, Educators, and Lay Leaders Call for All U.S. Bishops to Resign

A group of 1,300 Catholic theologians, educators, parishioners, and lay leaders has released a statement on Clergy Sexual Abuse in the United States and are urging others to join in signing a petition (the petition can be signed here) demanding that ALL of the Catholic bishops in the United States resign.  Why the much stronger reaction than in the wake of the sex abuse bombshell in Boston in 2002?  Most likely because (i) most of the world now knows that the rampant sexual abuse of children and minors by Catholic clergy is a global problem, and (ii) the recently released grand jury report contains detailed information on the cover ups engaged in bishops - cover ups that involve abuse much more recent that what the Church would pretend only happened in the 1950's and 1960's. I have long maintained that only a thorough and complete house cleaning of bishops involved in cover ups would begin to scratch the surface of ending the toxic misrule of self-styled "princes of the Church." In addition, a jettisoning of the Church's 12th century dogma on human sexuality is needed.  (Well over a decade ago, the Dallas Morning News documented that roughly 2/3 of U.S. Bishops had been involved in cover ups, including Walter Sullivan, the former bishop of Richmond.) Will bishops listen to the demands of the petitioners?  I will not be holding my breath since most, I suspect, care more about power, position and perks of office far more than they care about the Gospel of Christ.  Here are highlights from the statement:

In Tuesday, August 14, 2018, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro released a comprehensive grand jury report documenting the sexual abuse of over 1,000 children by 301 priests across six Pennsylvania dioceses. The document chronicles, with nauseating clarity, seven decades of clergy sexual abuse and systematic cover-ups by bishops and others in positions of power. The report comes in the wake of last months’ revelations of decades of sexual predation by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and in the long shadow of the sexual abuse crisis in Boston and beyond.

The crimes detailed in the grand jury report evince a horror beyond expression. The report summarizes the situation thus: “Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.”

Today, we call on the Catholic Bishops of the United States to prayerfully and genuinely consider submitting to Pope Francis their collective resignation as a public act of repentance and lamentation before God and God’s People.

We urge them to follow the example of Chile’s thirty-four bishops, who resigned collectively in May of this year after revelations of widespread sexual abuse and corruption were brought to light. Through prudent discernment, Pope Francis ultimately accepted three of these thirty-four resignations. It should be noted that the active bishop-to-Catholic ratio is almost the same in Chile and the United States, and that the geographical scope of the crisis in this country appears to surpass that of Chile.

The catastrophic scale and historical magnitude of the abuse makes clear that this is not a case of “a few bad apples” but rather a radical systemic injustice manifested at every level of the Church. Systemic sin cannot be ended through individual goodwill. Its wounds are not healed through statements, internal investigations, or public relations campaigns but rather through collective accountability, transparency, and truth-telling. We are responsible for the house we live in, even if we did not build it ourselves. This is why we call on the U.S. Bishops to offer their resignations collectively, in recognition of the systemic nature of this evil.

If we are to say “never again” to this catastrophic epidemic of sexual violence within the Church, then structural change on a scale previously unimaginable is required. . . . . As a collective body, the bishops have given the faithful little indication that they recognize and take accountability for the breathtaking magnitude of the violence and deceit that has continued unabated under their leadership. Thus, we call on them to follow Christ’s example in offering to the people a willing abdication of earthly status. This is a public act of penance and sorrow, absent of which no genuine process of healing and reform can begin.

We, the undersigned, teach in Catholic schools, colleges, universities, and graduate programs. We work in parishes, retreat centers, and diocesan offices. We are parishioners, lay ecclesial ministers, liturgical musicians, catechists, pastoral care workers, youth and young adult ministers, chaplains, parish workers, community advocates, students, teachers, professors, librarians, and researchers. We are mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, sons and daughters, vowed religious. We are the baptized.

We stand in solidarity with the thousands of victims, named and unnamed, whom predatory priests, protected by the willing silence of many bishops, have raped, abused, brainwashed, traumatized, and dehumanized. We stand with those driven to alcoholism and drug addiction, to mental illness and suicide. We grieve with their families and communities.

We grieve in a different but no less profound way for our students, children, families, parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors, and all of those we love who have left or will leave the Church because they have found its leaders unworthy of trust.

Thus, we call on you, Bishops of the United States, to consider this humble and public act of penance on behalf of us all. Let it be the first of many steps toward justice, transparency, and conversion. Only then might the wrenching work of healing begin.

For those who are still Catholic I urge you to sign the petition.  The Church hierarchy will only act if confronted with overwhelming pressure. Beside signing the petition, consider (i) refraining from further financial support of the Church until real change and a house cleaning occurs - and tell you parish why you are doing so or (ii) simply walking away.  The Episcopal Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America provide wonderful alternatives with liturgical masses and without the utterly corrupt Church hierarchy.