By Thor Jourgensen
Daily Item
May 20, 2011
http://itemlive.com/articles/2011/05/20/news/news01.txt
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| Joan Noble and Edward Dancewicz speak about the priest sex abuse scandal at Noble’s Lynn home Thursday. (Item Photo / Thor Jourgensen) |
LYNN - Local Catholics and a Lynn priest said a new study on the priest sexual abuse scandal underscores how Roman Catholic leaders failed to address the abuse problem.
"The bishops let everyone down. How could they have let this happen?" the Rev. Gregory Mercurio, pastor of Holy Family Church, said on Thursday.
Titled "The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States," the report was written by researchers at John Jay College in New York.
The report's summary concluded "that the initial, mid-1980s response of bishops to allegations of abuse was to concentrate on getting help for the priest-abusers. Despite the development of a comprehensive plan for response to victims and the harms of sexual abuse by the mid-1990s, diocesan implementation was not consistent or thorough at that time."
Karen Terry, the report's principal investigator, concluded in the report's summary: "The increased frequency of abuse in the 1960s and 1970s was consistent with the patterns of increased deviance of society during that time."
She also stated that "social influences intersected with vulnerabilities of individual priests whose preparation for a life of celibacy was inadequate at that time."
But Joan Noble, a Lynn resident and St. Michael's Church parishioner fighting to convince the Archdiocese of Boston to reopen the church, does not accept that explanation for why priests abused children.
"I believe these people were what they were when they went into the seminary. Whatever tendencies they had were there," Noble said Thursday, adding, "There should have been some medical, psychological attention."
The study states that the number of priests who faced abuse allegations numbered 4,392 from 1950 to 2002 out of 109,694 priests in the service of the church during those years. The summary noted that "more abusers were educated in seminaries in the 1940s and 1950s than at any other time period."
The report cites data gathered by researchers that priest abuse "is most likely to occur at times of stress, loneliness and isolation."
Barbara Thorp, the Archdiocese of Boston head of Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach, commented on the John Jay report Thursday in a statement released by Archdiocese Communications Secretary Terrence Donilon.
"While we are heartened the study showed the surge of abuse seemed to be contained to a historical moment, we know well that the effects of the crisis are not nearly over. We live the impacts on a daily basis. For us, the crisis is not history, in a sense, because people are continuing to come to us and are still trying to heal from the horrific abuse they experienced as children.
"The Archdiocese remains committed to instituting high standards and doing everything possible to keep the children and young people of this Archdiocese safe and to provide support to all people who have suffered as a result of clergy sexual abuse," Thorp said in Donilon's statement.
The report's conclusion offered an explanation about why the incidents of abuse cases peaked in the 1970s and early 1980s, noting that "few 'capable guardians' were in place that could have prevented the abuse from occurring."
"Victimization was little understood, signs of abuse were not readily recognized, children spent time alone and unsupervised with the priests," stated the report.
But Noble said Catholic leaders in charge of supervising priests knew abuse was taking place and "moved priests from parish to parish."
"Unfortunately, I hold the bishops accountable. They knew it was going on and they moved priests from parish to parish," she said.
Edward Dancewicz, a Georgetown resident who, along with Noble, is a member of an anti church-closing organization called the Council of Parishes, said church leaders did not respond to abuse reports. He also found fault with the report, stating the study's conclusion blaming abuse on societal changes of the 1960s and 1970s distressed him.
"It seems the report tries to rationalize and find excuses," he said.
Dancewicz said the Catholic leaders should have allowed "outside impartial help" in the form of neutral, third party observers to assist with church investigations into priest abuse.
Mercurio said Holy Family, located in East Lynn on Bessom Street, holds abuse awareness sessions for parish children twice a year. He said the sessions focus in part on encouraging children to "not be afraid to speak out" or share with adults incidents that upset them.
"You have control over your body. No one should impose ill will on you," Mercurio said.
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