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	Latest Report on Priest Scandal Shows Church Still Has Wrong Priorities By Bill White Morning Call February 16, 2011 http://www.mcall.com/news/local/white/mc-bill-white-priests-20110216,0,6743411.column When you're caught doing something wrong, David Clohessy says, there are two choices. Choice One is to stop doing it. Choice Two? Work even more diligently and shrewdly at concealing it. Clohessy, national director of the national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says last week's damning grand jury report on the Philadelphia Archdiocese, the second in less than six years, demonstrates that the church hierarchy still is opting for Choice Two. "It's so disheartening," he told me, "because arguably there is no archdiocese in America that has had more incentive to reform. Yet it has clearly changed so very little." In the wake of that horrific 2005 grand jury report on sexual abuse within the Philadelphia Archdiocese, I wrote a column urging the detailed public exposure of all the despicable acts committed upon young people by pedophile priests and of the shameful actions of the church leaders whose warped priorities put fear of scandal and financial liability ahead of children's safety. I revisited the subject a few years later when Pope Benedict XVI visited the United States and I was contacted by local abuse victims who told me his appearance here was reopening painful wounds. I didn't believe the church could move toward a healthier future as long as the architects of despicable cover-ups all over the country continued in power, unpunished, and victims were blocked from seeking justice by the predator-friendly state statute of limitations. If the findings of a new grand jury are correct, not much has changed. The grand jury charged three priests and a former parochial school teacher with abusing children at Philadelphia parishes, and a former top aide to retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, Monsignor William Lynn, with endangering children by putting known predatory priests in positions where they had access to children. The introduction to the grand jury's 124-page report, which I encourage you to seek out and read at the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office website, noted that there have been some positive changes since the last report. "The present grand jury, however, is frustrated to report that much has not changed," the new report continued. "The rapist priests we accuse were well known to the Secretary of Clergy [Lynn], but he cloaked their conduct and put them in place to do it again. The procedures implemented by the Archdiocese to help victims are in fact designed to help the abusers, and the Archdiocese itself. Worst of all, apparent abusers — dozens of them, we believe — remain on duty in the Archdiocese, today, with open access to new young prey." If the grand jury's findings are correct, so-called "victim assistance coordinators" were doing the bidding of the church's defense lawyers instead of looking out for present and future victims. "The evidence presented before us indicates that the Archdiocese continues to engage in practices that mislead victims, that violate their trust, that hinders prosecution of their abusers, and that leave large numbers of credibly accused priests in ministry," the report said. Even the church's response to the latest report is a cynical attempt to mislead. Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, wrote, "I assure all the faithful that there are no archdiocesan priests in ministry today who have an admitted or established allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against them." That's incredibly disingenuous. One reason there are no "admitted" allegations, for example, is that the most recent church policy has been not to question accused priests during its investigations. ("The intent there is utterly crystal clear," Clohessy said. "They do not want to know.") And if you read and believe the report, you'll find that the church's concept of "established" allegations bears little resemblance to common sense. If there are any positives here, they're that exposing these crimes is the only hope of stopping them in the future, and that — finally — a supervisor was charged with wrongdoing. Clohessy said he's been involved in this issue for 23 years, and he can recall only four individual church employees who have been disciplined for concealing such crimes, and those only slaps on the wrist where people had been publicly exposed and the church had little choice. Until the church embraces real accountability when it comes to protecting children, these horror stories will continue. "When the Monsignor Lynns of the world start getting fired by their bishops and jailed by secular authorities," Clohessy concluded, "I'm convinced that will be a huge, huge deterrent." bill.white@mcall.com 610-820-6105
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