By Paul Schneidereit
The Chronicle-Herald
September 22, 2009
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Columnists/1143743.html
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DON’T hold your breath waiting for the Vatican to help out the Diocese of Antigonish with that $15-million settlement for victims of alleged sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests.
The bottom line is that the money is going to have to be raised locally.
That’s apparently not going over so well with parishioners at the more than 100 parishes in the diocese, which includes all of Cape Breton, Guysborough, Pictou and Antigonish counties.
I don’t blame them for being angry.
Senior church officials here, as in many other places across North America and around the world, failed to protect the most vulnerable among us, children, after reports came to them that some priests used positions of authority to sexually abuse minors.
In diocese after diocese in Canada and the U.S., media reports and legal actions since the 1980s have revealed that offending priests were often quietly shuffled to new parishes after receiving counselling and expressing contrition, usually without local law enforcement being made aware of the serious allegations against the priests of sexually abusing children in their care.
Settlements of such claims in the U.S. alone have reportedly already cost American Roman Catholic dioceses perhaps $1.5 billion US to date, with more on the way.
So far as I can tell, however, the Vatican has not offered to help financially cover any of those awards.
It’s easy to see why.
The Vatican relies heavily on its worldwide dioceses to send money to Rome to help cover the Holy See’s bills, not the other way around.
Vatican officials have also cried poor, claiming popular beliefs about their supposed vast wealth are myths. Some of that is clearly self-serving — the Vatican’s art collection alone is worth billions, I’d imagine — but truthfully the Mother Church does not seem to be rolling in liquid assets, at least not on the scale needed to address the sexual abuse compensation issue.
So imagine the precedent that would be set if Rome offered to help out Antigonish. Every diocese anywhere facing huge monetary costs in settling sex abuse cases would naturally want similar help.
Trying to do so could very likely break the Vatican.
Whether or not such a thing concerns you is another matter. No doubt, it concerns them.
Interestingly, in the last year, U.S. appeals courts have, for the first time, ruled the Vatican can be sued directly for its role in determining the handling of sexual abuse cases by the church hierarchy.
Critics allege that internal Vatican documents from as early as 1962 indicate Rome wanted allegations of sexual misconduct by its priests kept strictly secret.
It’s too soon to know how that will eventually play out.
With no help forthcoming from Rome, U.S. dioceses facing huge financial settlements in sexual abuse cases have sold off real estate holdings and closed Catholic schools.
Back to the Diocese of Antigonish.
Last year, Bruce MacIntosh, the lawyer representing the diocese, told CBC the process for settling what current bishop Raymond Lahey acknowledged were legitimate claims of abuse should respect the rights of "parishioners who will be required to fund these settlements."
A report picked up by the online blog Clerical Whispers in August quotes one parish council president as saying parishes were told they must contribute what they could afford to the court settlement, including, for example, monies from fund-raising.
No doubt that’s going to be, as one parishioner recently told The Chronicle Herald’s Mary Ellen MacIntyre in Truro, "a hard, old pill" to swallow for many local church-goers.
Especially since those who actually made those decisions not to permanently remove those immoral priests from contact with children, as should have been done, and kicked them out of the priesthood, often aren’t around to pay for their culpability.
The rub is that parishioners devoted to keeping their church afloat in the face of declining attendance and other financial pressures now face a dilemma, asking themselves if they can stomach paying for someone else’s reprehensible mistakes.
Many say they won’t do it.
As I said earlier, I don’t blame them a bit.
(Contact: pauls@herald.ca)
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