In an open letter to the Baltimore Sun last Friday, Archbishop William Lori stated that at t he United States Conference of Catholic Bishops General Assembly this coming week, the Bishops will address the "severe crisis" confronting the Church with regard to the litany of sexual abuse scandals of late.
Archbishop Lori further states that the agenda, deliberations and outcomes of the meeting will be under intense scrutiny.
He couldn’t be more correct.
However, the Archbishop misses the point when it comes to the reasons for the crisis which is tearing at the very fabric of the Church -- confidence in the Bishops themselves.
Archbishop Lori wrote:
Now, for the matter of accountability. There is zero tolerance for anyone in the employment of the Archdiocese of Baltimore — lay or clergy — who is credibly accused of sexual abuse. Anyone who is credibly accused is permanently removed from ministry and employment. Each allegation is also brought before an independent review board that is responsible for reviewing the archdiocese’s handling of every allegation against any person who ministers on behalf of the church, including bishops. The board, comprised mostly of lay men and women with professional credentials in the fields of canon law, human resources, child protection and civil law, is empowered to oversee the archdiocese’s enforcement of child protection policies.
Because the role and influence of the laity must be expanded, I have also announced the creation of a new Archdiocesan Pastoral Council to foster greater lay involvement in the pastoral and administrative life of the Archdiocese.
During the Bishops’ conference this week, we will take up the creation of a national third-party reporting system that will receive confidential complaints of sexual abuse of minors by a bishop, as well as any allegation of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct by bishops toward adults. Also being created is a “Code of Conduct for Bishops” that will define clear and monitored policies for restrictions imposed on bishops removed or those who have resigned due to allegations of abuse or harassment.
No, Archbishop Lori, the creation of such structures will not in and of themselves restore the confidence and trust of the faithful.
Why?
First, it is simply not credible that no Bishop (not a single one) knew of the disgraced McCarrick’s deviant behavior and did not come forward. And the fact that, even now, no Bishop has admitted knowledge and accepted the consequences of his silence, taints everything else the Bishops say and do with regard to sexual abuse suspect and untrustworthy.
No one believes any Bishop is ready or willing to place the good of the Church before his career and rightly accept the consequences of his inaction and silence by resigning from office.
Second, the Catholic faithful are keenly aware that it was the secular press that uncovered the depth of the scandal and the strategy of Bishops to cover up the truth (a strategy almost universally applied throughout the American Church). And still, no Bishop has been held accountable and suffered the just consequence of such malfeasance and deception.
No one believes that the Bishops would have done anything on their own to address the scandal of the homosexual predation of young males by Catholic Clergy if the secular press had not broken the story.
The Bishops showed they couldn't be trusted on their own to come clean with the faithful and cleanse the Church of the filth of these horrific abuses.
Third, serious accusations have been leveled by a high-ranking Vatican official (Archbishop Vigano) against American Cardinals whose very appointments may have been influenced by the disgraced McCarrick. Those accusations reach to the Office of the Holy Father himself. Yet, the USCCB as a whole has not come forward to demand that an investigation be undertaken to either, once and for all, if the accusations are true or false.
It is most interesting that, among the Conference Bishops, thus far only 148 thus far have made official statements about these accusations. Of those, 80 Bishops support an investigation, 63 have remained neutral, and 5 have opposed any such effort.
And of the 5 Bishops who oppose an investigation, 4 of them (Cupich, Tobin, Wuerl and McElroy) are themselves implicated in the accusations.
And still, 41 American Bishops remain who have made no public statement whatsoever.
These are serious lapses of honest and reputable governance, as well as personal integrity.
And yet, these same men are prepared to call upon the faithful to trust them to do what is right in addressing the ongoing scandals plaguing the Church!
No policy or structure the USCCB attempts to put in place will restore the faithful’s respect or confidence in anything these Bishops propose or establish.
The Bishops need to come clean and stop pretending that no one knew. Those Bishops who did indeed know and did nothing need to submit their resignations immediately and be removed from office.
The Conference itself needs to demand that an independent investigation be immediately undertaken to determine whether or not Archbishop Vigano’s allegations that the disgraced McCarrick had anything to do with the appointments of Cardinals Cupich and Tobin as well as Bishop McElroy. If proven, these men need to be removed from office.
The Conference needs, likewise, to insist that the Holy Father hold himself accountable as well and speak to the issue of the accusations, assisting an independent investigation into the accusations leveled against him. If proven, the Holy Father himself needs to resign the Petrine Office.
To date, the American Bishops have been silent or resistant to any such attempts at accountability.
As long as that continues, anything the Conference says or does will be discredited and suspect as it should be.
Archbishop Lori and the Conference still appear not to understand that this is the real crisis facing the American -- and the Universal Church -- in our time.
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