This is written with a sense of sadness and some mixed feelings. While not a member of the Roman Catholic Church, I have great respect for the church and its followers.
The church has done and continues to do much good in the world. I've seen it among the poor, the downtrodden, and the ill all around the globe. But with a team of other investigative reporters, we uncovered some things that should be brought to light and pondered.
Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI issued the first apology to priest abuse victims from St. Peter's Square - a gesture intended to show that church leadership is finally ready to confront this growing scandal.
But in reporting a recent story, we found that behind the scenes - and in court - the church has taken a much less contrite and more confrontational position. Our investigation found that in various dioceses across the United States, church leaders were going great lengths to avoid making amends with the same victims of abuse they claimed to be trying to make peace with.
Facing waves of lawsuits by now-adult victims, we found the church has reacted more like a big business than a sacred institution: Wealthy dioceses have claimed to be broke and taken the drastic act of filing for bankruptcy. Only when forced to open their ledgers in bankruptcy proceedings does it become clear that several of these dioceses were actually flush with assets - cash, real estate, parishes - that it could have made available to victims seeking restitution.
WATCH:
In Davenport, Iowa, diocese officials went on a spending spree just before it claimed insolvency and filed for bankruptcy in 2006 - spending that included nearly $20,000 for the very-much-alive bishop's future funeral.
In Wilmington, Delaware -- the most recent diocese to file for bankruptcy-- church officials have tried to limit liability by claiming the property owned by its parishes is separate from its own. It all came down to a $120 million investment fund administered by the diocese. Various diocese entities --including schools, parishes and cemeteries-- had invested $75 million in the fund. The diocese argued that that money should be off-limits to victims' lawsuits. But the bankruptcy judge didn't buy it. On June 28, he ruled that all of the money should be up for grabs.
We spoke to one of the plaintiffs in Wilmington, Jim Holman, who has a unique perspective. Holman was abused by a priest when he was a teenager. Now, he's a bankruptcy lawyer who has guided dozens of companies through Chapter 11 filings. He's clearly not adverse to the concept of bankruptcy -- But he said the church, as a sacred body, should be held to a higher standard than the average corporation.
"This, let's preserve every avenue of defense with regard to our liquid assets -- you know, it's-- it's an understandable reaction if you're dealing with a widget factory," Holman told us. "It's not an understandable attitude when you're dealing with this kind of civic wound."
While the church hierarchy has finally acknowledged the civic wound of sexual abuse by priests, it has preferred to deal it on its own terms. And not just in the United States, but around the globe. Just last week, authorities in Belgium raided various church buildings, including one where a group of the country's top church leaders were holding a meeting. Police taking part in "Operation Chalice," as the raid was dubbed, refused to allow the stunned bishops attending the meeting to leave, and even confiscated their cell phones. It soon got out that the investigators had even dug into the crypts of two former archbishops.
Pope Benedict XVI denounced the raids. The Belgian authorities, he said, had trampled on the church's own internal abuse investigation. Even worse, it had affronted the Vatican's sovereign immunity. It's hard to know at this point whether he has a fair argument, since the details of the investigation haven't yet surfaced. There should be no surprise if many observers argue that there's one thing telling about the pope's response to the raids: In describing them as "deplorable," he was arguably using even stronger language than he has used to criticize the pedophile priests and their protectors that have gotten the Roman Catholic Church into this mess.
Dan Rather Reports' "Spiritually Bankrupt" aired Tuesday, June 29 at 8 PM and 11 PM Eastern on HDNet. You can now download the show on iTunes.
With much gratitude and love,
Alison
www.healthjournalist.com
It has been a well established fact forever that Catholic priests have a tendency toward pedophilia.
But people just can't break the habit of giving them respect. This is not surprising because anyone in the past that was not inclined to do so was culled out of the gene pool. The CC has undoubtedly killed enough people to affect the genes of mankind in almost all areas of the globe. Certainly the areas that European descendants know about. Anyone with an ounce on insight was a target and anyone uttering anything but allegiance to the Church was snuffed.
Get a backbone people and face the truth of all this respect.
day. For a laugh, they are most likely facing a bigger chance of hell than Tom, the cat, in that
Tom and Jerry video, who is also facing the prospect of hell:
http://socratesbooks.blogspot.com/2010/07/church-scandals-can-priests-and-bishops.html
http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=11858744
Most Catholic schools provide a safe, caring environment for children to learn. They offer Catholics and non-Catholics an alternative to the failing public school system especially in the inner-cities.
I did read the article in Psycology Today, a rag my wife and I stopped subscribing to after their editorial slant leaned far too close to Elizabeth Loftus to the exclusion of a balanced discussion of childhood sexual abuse. The article has two points that are salient to your arguement, neither of which is substantiated by documentary information. Putting it in writing does not make it so.
The earth is made of Green Cheese, the Cow jumps over the moon, and the Catholic Church is trying really, really hard. Saying it does not make it so.
I would note that, in my opinion, the Church is not doing enough. They continue to claim the victim role, they claim that the perogative to "assess the legitimacy of claims" lies exlcusively with them, and NOT various governmental agencies (the issue that is at the heart of the late unpleasantness in Belgium) and the Pope has yet to announce anything remotely close to an action plan that focuses on remediation, reparations and clarity of process moving forward.
Though most are good at heart, its about $$$$.
Greed has long ago taken over the Catholic Church.
if you haven't noticed, dan.
For those who have been abused by priests or nuns, this kind of information will hardly come as a surprise, but will simply reflect, in aggregate, the many, many personal challenges that survivors of priests and nuns face.
Time to follow the courageous actions of the Belgian government..............
What a total crock. Where do you get your statistics? Because most of the Church detractors I know, and I myself, were once those same Catholic children, and we know exactly how interested you people were in our welfare. As to the ridiculous implication that anyone is trying to convert anyone to "alternative life styles," the only people I've ever known who tried to do that were nuns and priests.
tell us truthfully now, how many accused abusers are living today in Vatican City, in the state of sanctuary, thinking themselves now safe from earthly due processes?
h y p o c r i s y
The sincere among the RCC should rise up in unison and protest that this is too little, too late, and prove to the world that there really is some holiness still left among them.
The most recent settlement I've heard of was $248 million - they had a $250 million cap for insurance.
The Church is a business, a very profitable business.