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	Catholic Conservatives Vs. Bishop Kicanas. By Grant Gallicho dot Commonweal November 11, 2010 http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=10879 Next week the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will elect its next president. According to custom, the current vice president, Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tuscon–considered a Bernardin bishop and therefore more liberal–will likely win the presidency. That has as some Catholic conservatives up in arms, such as Tim Drake, of the Legion of Christ-owned National Catholic Register and Faith and Family Magazine. Citing articles posted to the Web site of WBEZ (Chicago’s NPR affiliate), the conservative news outlet Spero News, and a Boston-based Catholic blog, Drake argues that Kicanas is unfit for the office of USCCB president because of his role in the tragic case of the admitted molester Daniel McCormack, now laicized and jailed (I wrote about him here): If he isn’t elected, the story will be why the bishops parted with recent practice. If he is elected, the story will be how the bishops treat their own, and the message the bishops are sending to society about their willingness to prevent sexual abuse. Kicanas was rector of Mundelein seminary when McCormack studied there. A 2006 diocesan audit found that in 1992, Mundelein officials learned of three accusations of misconduct against McCormack, two from adult seminary classmates (one from McCormack’s previous seminary, then called Niles College), and one reportedly from a minor in Mexico. The records of those allegations, along with their details, were never found. Two years later, McCormack was ordained. In 2007, Kicanas told the Chicago Sun-Times that he was aware of three allegations of “sexual improprieties” against McCormack, but that they were not “credible,” therefore it would have been unjust to deny him ordination. “There was a sense that his activity was part of the developmental process and that he had learned from the experience,” Kicanas explained. He was more concerned about McCormack’s drinking problem. “We sent him to counseling for that.” Finally, Kicanas disagreed that McCormack never should have been ordained: ”I don’t think there was anything I could have done differently.” It’s that last quote that Drake believes disqualifies Kicanas. The Spero News op-ed is titled, “Catholic Bishops to Elect Enabler of Child Molester as National Leader,” and, according to Drake, ”If Bishop Kicanas is elected it’s likely to strain the USCCB’s credibility.” Perhaps. But, just as I haven’t seen many liberal Catholic outlets complaining about the ascension of Kicanas to the USCCB presidency, I don’t recall reading any stories in the National Catholic Register or Zenit warning the U.S. bishops that electing Cardinal Francis George as their president in 2007 would have dire consequences for the credibility of the USCCB (the Spero op-ed Drake links to does refer to George’s role in the McCormack case). Which is strange, because in October ‘05, Cardinal George’s own sexual-abuse review board recommended removing McCormack from ministry, and the cardinal refused to do so. McCormack wasn’t removed from ministry until January ‘06. As victims attorney Marc Pearlman told NPR, “I just don’t know…how many kids were abused between the fall of 2005 and January of 2006, when he was finally removed.” Two subsequent audits of archdiocesan sexual-abuse policies revealed a system replete with appalling and obvious shortcomings. What’s amazing is that more abusive priests didn’t fall through its cracks. One audit found that archdiocesan officials had likely broken Illinois law by failing to report and investigate a 2003 allegation against McCormack. The same audit judged the archdiocese in violation of the USCCB’s own sexual-abuse policies, adopted in ‘02. I won’t defend Kicanas’s claim that there was nothing he could have done differently in the McCormack case. Now we know he had a serial child molester for a seminarian. Obviously, not ordaining McCormack would have been better; but would it have stopped him from abusing? Do we know enough about what Kicanas knew to call him an “enabler”? Did Mundelein officials “enable” McCormack’s crimes any more than George’s decision not to follow the advice of his sexual-abuse review board? In other words, if Kicanas’s critics really believe his election to the presidency of the USCCB will strain the bishops’ credibility, after George’s election, what do they think is left of it?
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