Priest Scandal Demands Openness, Kansas City Star, December 1, 2007

Priest Scandal Demands Openness

Kansas City Star
December 1, 2007

http://www.kansascity.com/340/story/385508.html

The latest allegations of abuse involving Catholic priests in Kansas City fall into an all-too-dismal pattern: The alleged behavior continued for many years, and the church hierarchy did little or nothing about it.

The allegations, reported recently in The Star, involved two priests at St. Elizabeth's parish and concerned a period that began in the 1960s and continued into the 1980s. Up to a dozen lawsuits are making their way through the courts. The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph denies its officials knew about the allegations and did nothing.

One question is why the church failed to adopt a policy as strict as that of the Boy Scouts, which was rocked by similar scandals decades ago. In response, the Scouts decreed that no adult leader was to be alone with a boy, an approach that protects both Scouts and adults. When private consultations take place, participants must be visible to others.

In recent years, the diocese has tightened policies covering priests and others who deal with children. The diocese, for example, requires full compliance with state laws on reporting child abuse. Priests "credibly accused" of abuse must be promptly removed, pending a full investigation.

A code of ethics for church leaders — a category that includes priests — says physical contact with young people should be approached with caution. Any such contact beyond a handshake, the policy states, "should only occur under appropriate public circumstances."

But the policy doesn't bar priests from being alone with children.

That would be very difficult in the case of confession, said Monsignor Bradley Offutt, diocesan chancellor. For that sacrament, he said, "You have to be alone with a priest."

Other situations where such a bar would be awkward, he said, would be before Mass, when the priest and the servers are donning vestments, or in more casual situations, as when a priest might be working with a young man to prepare for a parish picnic or similar activity.

Offutt noted that at newer churches, the room reserved for confession must have a door with a glass pane. Some older churches are being retrofitted with glass doors, he said.

Even so, the Boy Scout organization has made its policy work without undue difficulty. Surely the church could make a similar approach doable, perhaps with confession as the sole exception to the policy.

Such a change wouldn't do away with the abuse cases from the past now coming to light.

But it would help convince doubters that the church was determined to guarantee that any priest tempted to cross the line would not get an opportunity to do so.