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	Apologies Aren't Enough Victims of Pedophile Priests. Had a Legitimate Expectation That the Pope Might Meet Them to Express the Church's Sorrow By Janet Bagnall Montreal Gazette (Canada) April 18, 2008 http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=f27712f3-e079-48c4-94c1-f37f7b9e49c9 The victims, some of them very young, number more than 5,000. The payout in compensation has hit $2 billion and continues to rise. There is no end in sight to the lawsuits. This is the legacy in the U.S. of Roman Catholic priests who preyed sexually on children and the bishops and archbishops who took no action to stop them. This legacy is what Pope Benedict XVI knew he would face when he made his first visit, as the vicar of Christ, to America's 64 million Catholics. Before he even reached U.S. shores, on a flight from Italy, he said that he was deeply ashamed and that he found it "difficult to understand how priests can have betrayed their mission to bring holiness in this way, to bring the love of God to children." He added that the church would do "what is possible" to ensure there would be no repetition of these crimes. Addressing the issue more directly than his predecessor Pope John Paul, Benedict said, "It is more important to have good priests than many priests. We will do everything possible to heal this wound." But that's the problem. The church has refused to do everything possible to heal the wound. And it is still refusing. The victims of pedophile priests had a legitimate expectation that the new pope might meet them to express the church's sorrow at their suffering. A new pope could lay out a plan of action that would prevent the ordination of those with pedophile tendencies. And he could require that any priest alleged to have sexually assaulted a child, or an adult, be turned over to civil authorities to face criminal charges. Benedict is not scheduled to meet victims during his trip to the U.S. Nor has he taken the opportunity to spell out any concrete steps the church might be considering. When he met bishops this week, Benedict, sounding a bit like an annoyed CEO, criticized them for having "sometimes very badly handled" the crisis of pedophile priests. Then, moving on to spin-doctor speak, he urged that they "address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores." This meant, it seems, that pedophilia in the church was to be understood in a context of widespread, easily accessed pornography and sexual licence. From a layperson's point of view, though, it's hard to grasp the equation between rap videos and rape by a parish priest ... if that's where Benedict was going with that comparison. Still, lots of people, and not only Catholics, would like to think that Benedict, by saying how sorry he is, will bring an end to the whole grotesque mess. Priests who should be expelled will be thrown out. They will be handed over to civil authorities to face trial. Victims will be identified clearly as victims. But standing between those people and their wish is Bernard Cardinal Law, former archbishop of Boston and currently holder of a cushy sinecure in Rome. Church records, revealed by court order, showed that Law had known and kept secret details of sexual abuse. Law reacted to the revelations by transferring the priests to other parishes. A lawyer for the victims was quoted in 2002 in the Boston Globe as saying that the cost of the secrecy was "children being sexually molested and families being destroyed. The archdiocese just didn't care." Law knew, the Globe reported, that a priest "traded cocaine for sex," and that another compared himself to Jesus Christ as a ploy to persuade convent-bound girls into sex acts. Law, whether this is what the church intends or not, stands as a symbol for its attitude toward the sex abuse scandal. As long as he is in Rome, with the church seemingly unconcerned that he has never answered for his knowledge of the sexual assault of children, the church remains open to charges of not being sincere in its concern for the victims. Making things right has to involve providing justice: Crimes were committed. Saying sorry is a start, but that's all it is. Contact: jbagnall@thegazette.canwest.com
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