BishopAccountability.org
	Clues to Abuse Scandal Waiting in Files By Steven Greenhut Orange County Register [California] May 15, 2005 As massive institutional and moral failings go, the Roman Catholic Church's child-rape scandal is a doozy. It is almost unfathomable that the church could become so infested by those who twisted Christ's love of children ("Suffer the little children to come unto me ...") into exploitation, and that many leaders refused to side with the victims. Now that a record-setting settlement has been provided by the Diocese of Orange, and personnel records here are about to be released (although the archdiocese of Los Angeles and many dioceses across the country continue to resist the release of documents), it's useful to look for clues about why the scandal took place. The files, as bland as they seem, might offer answers about what church leaders knew and when they knew it, which is why abuse victims, notably Joelle Casteix and her attorney John Manly, insisted that the $100 million settlement for 87 Orange Diocese victims include the documents' release. The church, to its credit, complied and turned the files over to the court. Some alleged abusers are asking to keep the documents sealed, and the court will decide this month. The terms of the settlement: All documents relating to the sexual abuse of children are to be released, although alleged abusers can keep other documents - i.e., performance reviews, 401(k) information, etc. - outside of the public's view. My theory is the files will include detailed documentation of abuse by priests and others and then glowing review letters sent by the church to the next diocese or employer, thereby shuttling the problem somewhere else. That's what we saw when the Boston archdiocese documents were released by the court. How did it happen? Bureaucratic indifference. Big organizations, even churches, can become heartless and self-serving. The modus operandi becomes protecting one's self, one's place, one's bosses and the institution. There's a reason Manly, while deposing church leaders, always asks whether they embrace the Catholic Doctrine of Mental Reservation. It's the belief that one can mislead, even under oath, in order to protect the church. From there, it's a simple moral delusion to conflate your career and a particular priest with "the church," and before you know it an act of evil can be contorted into a bold defense of the faith. That's how, I believe, bishops justified the cover-ups. Somehow the wrong thing - even an exceedingly evil thing - doesn't seem so bad when done under the auspices of legitimate authority, which is what happens commonly in governments and also in private institutions, such as Enron, the Catholic Church, etc. Casteix's story is different from the typical "priest molests altar boy" story. She was 15 and attending Mater Dei High School when she says music director Thomas Hodgman raped her and abused her repeatedly for two years. Years later she contacted the diocese and it placed her on a committee to review sexual abuse allegations - something from which she later quit, accusing Bishop Tod Brown of using it as a public relations ploy. She became a spokesperson for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and ultimately received $1.6 million in a legal settlement from the diocese. Organizations rarely pay out that large of a sum without having good reason to believe the accusations leveled by the plaintiff. I recall interviewing Bishop Brown a couple of years ago about Casteix and the whereabouts of the former Mater Dei faculty member. I don't recall the bishop's exact words, but I do recall that he seemed unconcerned about the alleged abuser's whereabouts since he no longer was working for the diocese. I've sometimes thought about that normal, banal and bureaucratic response. It reinforces my theory: The abuses continued and the abusers left in positions of authority because leaders were interested in protecting their turf, rather than protecting kids. Once the abusers were moved out of sight, the victims were out of mind. Hodgman is now music director at Adrian College, a small Methodist college in Michigan, not far from Toledo, Ohio. In the local press, Hodgman calls the rape allegations "bogus." The president of the college didn't return my calls. But officials there don't seem to care about Casteix's allegations, either, considering events last month. Casteix recently went to Ohio to lobby the state Legislature for a law similar to the one passed in California in 2003 that lifted the statute of limitations for civil abuse lawsuits for a year. It is being fiercely opposed by Ohio dioceses. While there, she drove to the college and met with Adrian College President Stanley Caine and the college attorney. "I've never been so insulted and berated in my life," she said. According to Casteix, officials kept insisting that she was in a relationship that went bad, and that she was being vindictive. It was like a deposition, with Casteix - a tough veteran of these battles - battered into tears, explained Claudia Vercellotti, the SNAP director for Toledo, who attended the meeting. "After Joelle described in detail how she had been raped, the first words out of their mouths were not 'I'm sorry.' They said: 'Are you saying this was rape because you were under 18 or because there was force involved?'" Vercellotti said. "I was ready for the fact that they didn't know, but I wasn't ready for the fact that they didn't want to know." The Toledo Blade reports that Caine and the college are standing firmly behind Hodgman, with a spokesman saying: "We've supported Tom Hodgman since we hired him. He continues to do great things for us." In the media, Caine depicted Hodgman as the victim. Some of Hodgman's students are wearing ribbons showing support for him. Even the Diocese of Orange gave a statement to the Ohio press, as its spokesman, Rev. Joe Fenton, said: "Under no circumstances does the settlement imply any guilt on anyone's part." So, after all the news stories, revelations and lawsuits over sexual abuse in the church nationwide, we're still at square one. The accused, of course, is innocent until proven guilty, but the institutions should give all charges a fair hearing rather than maligning victims and standing up unequivocally for the accused, barring all evidence. Fortunately, this particular matter can be straightened out when the court releases the personnel files, but I don't suppose future victims will have an easier row to hoe. "I honestly think the chance of a child being molested in the diocese of Orange is no longer as likely as it was," said Casteix. "It's not because the church is humbler or holier, as the bishop said, but because it's cheaper to deal with the problem early." I first thought that to be too harsh, but then I reread the words of Boise Bishop Michael Driscoll, formerly chancellor of the Diocese of Orange, who last week admitted on his Web site that he had "misplaced priorities" when he knowingly shuffled child-rapist priests to other parishes and put the interests of the priests above the safety of the kids. In his surprisingly pro forma apology, the bishop admitted the reason for his contrition: the expected release of the personnel files. How did this scandal happen? It's in the files.