2018-08-31-eEdition

AUGUST 31, 2018 THE CATHOLIC WEEK PAGE 3 Editor’s note: Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi released a statement re- garding the misconduct scandals on Wednesday, Aug. 22. This is a reprint of his statement.  adness, shock, shame, out- rage. I am at a loss for the words to describe my feelings at the scandals which have affected the Church these past few weeks. I have read only some of the re- port from Pennsylvania, but it fills me with revulsion.The harm done to victims is unspeakable. One can rightly ask: Wasn’t this handled in 2002 when the US bishops committed ourselves to a plan of action (the Charter) to address sexual misconduct with minors by priests and dea- cons? The Charter did address this issue and since 2002 the Church in the US has imple- mented procedures and policies to protect minors when involved in Church ministries. The background checks, child protection training, annual re- training for all employees and for all volunteers ministering to minors, cooperation with civil authorities, all called for by the Charter, are implemented in the Archdiocese of Mobile. In our archdiocese, accusations of misconduct go before an inde- pendent review board, composed mostly of lay persons, for con- sideration. I have been faithful to the zero tolerance called for in the 2002 Charter. Priests and deacons who have credible accu- sations of abuse of minors are not reassigned elsewhere and are not allowed to exercise any ministry. These efforts have had a posi- tive effect.Next to this article is a graph of accusations in the U.S. since 2004 of misconduct with minors by priests, not by the date of reporting the accusations, but by date that the alleged incident occurred. According to the Cen- ter for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), the num- ber of occurrences peaked in the 1970s. It is noticeable that since the Charter the accusations have been few. According to CARA, in the United States there were seven credible accusations against priests which occurred in 2016, and four in 2017, as opposed to many during the peak years. In addition, prospective semi- narians for our Archdiocese are carefully selected. We seek good and wholesome guys to be our future priests. We also carefully select our seminaries. It is my im- pression that seminary training today is more attentive to human formation of seminarians than was seminarian training prior to the Second Vatican Council and in the years soon after the Council. (From what has been reported, of the 300+ cases in the Pennsylvania report only two oc- curred in the past 10 years and both were reported to authori- ties. It needs to be remembered, even though most accusations in the report were 30 or more years ago, the damage caused by abuse lasts for many years.) At the same time I would like to make two points: First, four credible accusations against priests in 2017 is four too many. Each act of sexual abuse of a mi- nor is immoral and devastating. Second, these statistics, however encouraging, excuse nothing. The questions about the ac- cusations regarding Archbishop McCarrick, the Pennsylvania report, and other scandals in various places in our country are many and justifiable. How could this be covered up for so long? Why didn’t someone say some- thing?Why were people involved in misconduct left in positions of authority and even promoted? Why were known acts of mis- conduct not addressed and re- ported to civil authorities? The Charter addressed misconduct against minors but what about misconduct with adults? How can accusations against bishops be reported and to whom? These and other questions must be addressed and done so with honesty, completeness and integrity. The bishops who form lead- ership of the United States Catholic Conference have al- ready requested of the Pope that an impartial and independent investigation be made into the matter of the accusations against Archbishop McCarrick. This is needed and as soon as possible. The US bishops also need to address the matter that bishops were not included in the Charter. This needs to be amended. In ad- dition, there is the need to make clear how accusations against bishops may be made and who will investigate the accusation. Proposals are already being con- sidered and I am confident this will be the focus of the bishops’ annual November meeting,where with humility and contrition, we must confront our failures. In themeantime,what can the average Catholic do? In recent days I have met twice with the Wed., Sep 5 7:30 a.m. Archdiocesan Finance Council 11:15 a.m. Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Mobile, ACCWMass 1:30 p.m. Presbyteral Council Meeting Fri., Sep 7 2:30 p.m. Sacred Heart Residence, Mobile, 50th Anniversary Celebration for Sr. Judith, lsp 7:00 p.m. St. Michael Catholic High School, Volanta Sports Park, Fairhope, First Ever Varsity Home Football Game Sat., Sep 8 8:00 a.m. Sacred Heart Residence, Mobile, Meet with Deacon Aspirants Sun., Sep 9 11:15 a.m. University of South Alabama Catholic Student Center, Mobile, Mass Mon.-Wed., Sep 10-12 Washington, DC, USCCB Meeting Thu., Sep 13 7:00 p.m. St. Michael Catholic School, Volanta Sports Park, Fairhope, Municipal Stadium Fri., Sep 14 7:00 p.m. McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, Football Game Sat., Sep 15 8:00 a.m. St. Mary Parish, Mobile, Mass for Participants in High School Volleyball Tournament Sun., Sep 16 9:15 a.m. St. Patrick Parish, Robertsdale, Mass and Confirmation Archbishop’s Schedule September 5 - September 16 Archbishop’s statement onmisconduct scandals FROM THE ARCHBISHOP Most Reverend Thomas J. Rodi S Official Appointments ArchbishopThomas J. Rodi appoints: Deacon Stephen A. Tidwell, as Director for Prison Ministry of the Archdiocese of Mobile, effective September 1, 2018. priests of our archdiocese, spoken with the deacons of our archdio- cese, and attended the annual re- treat of our seminarians. At each we discussed the recent scandals. These meetings were most help- ful to me in hearing them and the pain that they are feeling. Their comments were very valu- able for, in particular, they spoke to the need for a renewal of holi- ness among the clergy and all the people of the Church and of the need to change any culture of se- crecy among the clergy. As they pointed out, these scandals call upon all of us to re- member that we are called to ho- liness.We can at times hesitate to call sin a sin.We need to confront sin and to seek holiness and to rightly expect our clergy to lead us in this. This is not to say that our clergy will be perfect. We have many wonderful deacons, priests, and bishops, but none of us are perfect. I know that I am not. I am a sinner and have done wrong in many ways. I beg God for forgiveness. But I also believe that God wishes to work through us, despite our flaws, frailties and sins. He uses us, each one of us, to accomplish His plan. We seek after holiness knowing we are weak sinners. It is when we real- ize that we need God that God’s power can work in us and in our weakness, as St. Paul says, we are strong. We are also called by the Lord to courage. It is the courage that comes from trust in the Lord. Je- sus calls us to “Fear not.” “Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” When I was young there was a popular expres- sion that “you don’t burn down the barn to get rid of the rats.” I understand the anger and feel it too. This is not a time for anger to cause us to attack and seek to destroy the Church.Instead,righ- teous anger asks God to bring forth people of good judgment and holiness to guide us in a pu- rification. Purification is consis- tently painful but necessary. We cannot allow ourselves to become discouraged.The Evil One would love for us to lose hope. It is for us to encourage one another to trust that the Lord can lead us out of even the darkest of moments. So let us keep one another in prayer that the action which is taken, and action must be taken, will address the sin in our midst which has so deeply harmed its victims and all of us. In our need for prayer I am asking all of us in the Archdiocese of Mobile pray together for the victims of abuse and for forgiveness and repara- tion for our failings. At all Masses the weekend of September 8-9, 2018 prayer will be included for the victims of abuse and for forgiveness and reparation for our failings as a Church. (Archdiocesan child protection policy and information are avail- able on the archdiocesan website: mobarch.org )