US Catholics Call for Action from Pope against Predator Priests, AFP, April 9, 2005

US Catholics Call for Action from Pope against Predator Priests

AFP
April 9, 2005

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jZ7-L_uw4bx5TbZtzWD4ix1IsiCA

WASHINGTON — Days before Pope Benedict XVI was due to begin a historic visit to the United States, a support group for some 9,000 Americans who say they were sexually abused by Catholic clergymen on Tuesday urged the pontiff to act against pedophile priests.

"We are looking for the holy father to hold the enablers and wrongdoers accountable," Barbara Blaine, head of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP), told reporters outside the papal nuncio in Washington, where Benedict XVI is due to begin his first visit as pope to the United States next week.

Pope Benedict XVI

In January, SNAP sent a letter to the pope calling on him to meet with victims of predator priests when he visits Washington and New York, "to assist in the unfinished healing that needs to occur," Blaine said, reading from the letter.

"We didn't hear back. We believe the pope will meet with victims, but those victims will have been hand-picked by US bishops," said the 51-year-old, accusing the bishops of protecting priests who abuse children.

"We are fearful that the pope is only given information that is filtered through the US Catholic bishops, and these are the same bishops who have enabled and promoted and covered up for child abusers," said Blaine, who was sexually molested by a priest when she was 12.

"We fear that he does not really understand the experience of the victims and that's why we have asked to meet with him. We would still agree to meet with him, but we doubt that will happen," she said.

Behind Blaine, Becky Ianni, 50, helped hold up a banner with photos of around 50 children, all victims of pedophile priests.

"The kids in the black squares committed suicide when they grew up because they never came to terms with what happened to them," Ianni said, singling out hew own picture at age nine, when a priest began to subject her to a ritual of sexual abuse that continued for three years.

"I was so young, I had no idea that what he was doing to me was sexual. I knew it was wrong and that I was scared to death, but he was a close family friend and he told me I would go to hell if I told anyone," Ianni told AFP.

Cut out Pope figurines for sale

Cases of predator priests in the United States have emerged piecemeal since the 1950s, but the church was plunged into the worst crisis in its 200-year history in 2002 when the Archbishop of Boston confessed he had protected a priest who had sexually abused young members of his church.

"We assume that hundreds of bishops either covered up for predators or turned a blind eye when they had information about predators. Not one of those bishops has faced any punishment," Blaine said.

"When a predator is enabled and empowered, those who give him that power are equally culpable and we would like the holy father to take action to hold them accountable," she said.

Patrick Wall, a former Benedictine priest who quit the church 10 years ago over the sex scandal, worked as a "cleaner" for his order, helping to "stabilize a parish after an abuser is removed."

"Cleaners are one of the dirty little secrets of the church," Wall told AFP by telephone from Alaska, where he was investigating the sixth diocese to declare bankruptcy over the sex abuse scandal.

The US church paid out 615 million dollars (400 million euros) to settle sex abuse cases last year, according to an annual report by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"Every diocese and every religious order has a cleaner ... If a priest gets removed because he's sodomizing kids and you bring in some normal, down-to-earth guy, it brings a sense of stability and calm," said Wall.

He held out little hope that the pope would announce firm action to redress the painful issue of abusive priests during his trip to the United States.

"He has already addressed the issue by ... avoiding Boston, which many consider the epicenter of the sex abuse earthquake," Wall said.

"For the holy father to avoid going to Boston, he is acknowledging that it is a huge confrontation point and he is really not that interested in having a broad discussion about it," he added.

"Until bishops go to jail or are relieved of duty by the pope for protecting priest sex abusers, the system is not really going to change," the former 'cleaner' said.