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What We, and the New Archbishop of Boston,
Face in Our Church in light of the
Attorney General's Report
STATEMENT OF
Jim Post, President
Voice of the Faithful
July 23, 2003 ______________________________________________________________________________
The release, today, of the Massachusetts Attorney General's report
on "The Sexual Abuse of Children in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Boston" is another landmark in our understanding of how the
Catholic Church, and its leaders, betrayed the most innocent and
vulnerable of our citizens through the misguided belief that secrecy
would protect an institution that was compromised at its moral core.
The report provides a chilling picture of how grown men, entrusted
with the highest moral and secular responsibility, betrayed the
children they vowed to protect and betrayed the Church they vowed
to serve. The dreadful lack of a moral compass revealed in their
deeds - and in their own words that acknowledge those deeds - leaves
decent, Church-going Catholics sickened. People of every faith -
or no faith - cannot fail to be outraged by the revelations in this
report.
It is important that we, the members of VOTF - as ordinary citizens
of this Commonwealth and this great nation - thank the members of
the Grand Jury, the Attorney General, and the Attorney General's
staff for their 16-month investigation. Voice of the Faithful deeply
appreciates the commitment of our fellow citizens to telling the
truth - and to shedding sunlight on these long-suppressed facts.
Today, VOTF is calling on all Catholics to join in prayerful commitment
to clean up the Catholic Church by undertaking a fundamental
reexamination of the human decision processes that led to this
catastrophe. Our calls include the following:
First, every member of the Catholic laity - women and men of all
ages and ethnic backgrounds - should make a personal statement to
the new archbishop designate of Boston, Sean O'Malley. Send your
letters to the Chancery at 2121 Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton;
send your faxes, send your e-mails with your opinions and suggestions
on this matter. We laypersons should be silent no longer. If you
send a copy to Voice of the Faithful by email or letter, I promise
that we will publicize the number of communications that have been
sent to Church officials. A massive public communications campaign
will demonstrate broad public commitment to reform. Let your voice
be heard.
As part of being heard, lay Catholics should engage in what Attorney
General Reilly today called "vigilant oversight from the public
to assure that the Archdiocese does indeed act to protect children."
Paraphrasing the Report itself, the public must remain vigilant
until the Archdiocese demonstrates its understanding that it is
criminal to sexually abuse a child … until it ends the culture of
secrecy that has protected the institution at the expense of children
… until it adopts and implements comprehensive preventive measures
… until it appropriately responds to all allegations of child sexual
abuse … and until it becomes accountable at every level of the institution
for ensuring the protection of children.
Third, VOTF will join other organizations and individuals in a
call for structural and cultural reforms in the Catholic Church
that transform the culture of secrecy into a culture of honesty.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and the Attorney General's Report
underscores how badly this disinfectant is needed. The knowledge,
common sense, moral vision, and wisdom that reside with lay parents,
doctors, psychologists, and everyday parishioners is also a great
treasure of our Church. Tapping into the laity's collective wisdom
at the parish and diocesan levels - and beyond - is another step
on the road to structural and cultural reform.
Fourth, VOTF calls on the Vatican - on Pope John Paul II personally
- to heed this Report, and to reprimand publicly Church officials
who perpetrated these shameful acts on innocent children. There
can be no reasonable doubt that Cardinal Law and Bishops Daily,
Banks, Hughes, McCormack, and Murphy failed in their ministry to
the people and families of the Archdiocese of Boston. These bishops
- and all other Church officials throughout the country who engaged
in these shameful behaviors - must be disciplined by the Vatican.
Fifth, it is morally unacceptable that the protectors of predators
continue to hold positions of administrative leadership in our Church.
These men are so deeply compromised that they are ineffective as
pastoral leaders. They should conduct a thorough examination of
conscience, and in the interest of moral clarity and true contrition,
they should decide on their own to tender their resignations from
all diocesan and episcopal positions. Once tendered, the Vatican
should accept their resignations immediately.
Sixth, VOTF calls on the Archdiocese of Boston to publicly acknowledge
its moral culpability as going far beyond "errors" or "mistakes
of judgment."
Finally, we must recognize that the one man on whom the greatest
burden now falls is Archbishop-designate Sean O'Malley, who will
be installed next week. We urge Bishop O'Malley to recognize that
to cleanse this troubled Archdiocese, he cannot do this job alone,
but rather, he must actively draw every person of good will in to
the cleansing effort. We recommend that he begin by asking for the
help and involvement of all Catholics - every priest, every member
of religious community, every laywoman and layman. And we at Voice
of the Faithful offer to participate in creating a 4-sided table
of laity, survivors, priests, and hierarchy committed to dialogue,
truth, and honest reform.
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