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	The Church Settles Two Serial Criminals Plus Appalling Supervision Equals Tragedy Rocky Mountain News July 2, 2008 http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jul/02/the-church-settles/ Years ago at the height of publicity regarding the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, when dioceses such as Boston, Dallas and Louisville seemed to be imploding under the weight of devastating accusations, it appeared that Denver was one of the fortunate oases to escape such turmoil. The mirage was not to last. It was shattered three years ago when lawsuits began to be filed against the archdiocese regarding the conduct of two priests, one dead and the other soon to die - Leonard Abercrombie and Robert White - dating back to the 1950s. Other lawsuits followed alleging the sexual abuse of minors by both men. They pushed Denver into the ranks of dioceses facing wrenching decisions over how to handle the predatory behavior of priests and the apparently complacent reaction by their superiors at the time - who in this case also happen to be deceased. Tuesday, the archdiocese managed to put most of the crisis behind it when it announced that it had agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle 18 claims of sexual abuse, all but one of which involved Abercrombie and White, dating from 1954 to 1981. The announcement follows the settlement last year of a number of other claims involving the same two men - bringing the total church outlay to more than $8 million. Only two sexual abuse claims remain unresolved, one of which also involves Abercrombie and the other Thomas Barry, who is also dead. What to make of this tragic saga? To begin with, sexual predators who wear a clerical collar, just like their counterparts elsewhere, tend to be serial offenders who individually are capable of wreaking harm upon a shocking number of victims. There have been many priests in the Denver diocese during the past 54 years - indeed, there are more than 300 today - but the grotesque, repeated criminal behavior of two of them managed to inflict lasting damage not only to the victims who emerged in the past few years but to the image, mission and economic vitality of the entire institution they once allegedly served. Second, even allowing for the fact that the claims involve incidents that occurred a minimum of 27 years ago, when the general understanding of how to respond to allegations of sexual misconduct was clearly different from today, the decision to keep the likes of White and Abercrombie in active ministry at the time is almost unfathomable. Archbishop Charles Chaput, who arrived in Denver only in 1997, says he can't explain the decisions, either, and is reluctant to speculate what those in authority were thinking because they aren't around to speak for themselves. That's understandable, but we'll take a stab at characterizing their appalling lapse in judgment. Those church leaders who failed to report White and Abercrombie to the police were either woefully naive - convinced, for example, that the culprits would reform themselves given a second, third or fourth chance and a dose of stern counseling - or they were self-protective, self-deluded or perhaps outright cynical. Indeed, maybe the motives involved a combination of all of the above. Chaput is confident that a similar scandal involving multiple incidents of sexual abuse could not occur today if any were reported to the archdiocese. That's because its policy is to take such reports immediately to authorities. Indeed, the archdiocese wised up nearly 20 years ago and adopted procedures to minimize the likelihood that another serial offender would be indulged. Although those policies were too late for the victims of sexual abuse during previous decades, they may comprise the most notable positive legacy to emerge from the church's scandal of sexual abuse.
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