By Mark Guydish
Times Leader
May 28, 2011
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Shining_a_light_on_dark_past_05-27-2011.html
 |
| Bishop Joseph Bambera of the Diocese of Scranton discusses changes he has made in seminary training for priests, the handling of allegations of abuse and continuous training of priests. |
Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera can speak firsthand to the shifting social norms and evolving seminary education, having graduated high school in 1974 and entered seminary in 1978. But while he believes the report makes an effective argument for its conclusions, he stresses it cannot be held up as excuse or apology.
“This is a very powerful reminder to me to keep this issue on the front burner,” Bambera said.
In a lengthy interview focused on one of the Catholic Church’s most sensitive topics, Bambera spoke of changes he has made in the training of priests, his decision to revise diocesan policy for the handling of abuse allegations, and the extensive, continuous training required of all priests, including himself, to avoid a repeat of the scandal that has shaken the Church.
The report was commissioned and paid for in large part by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, a collegial body that has great sway in the U.S. Church but does not have any particular hierarchical authority beyond the weight of consensus of the bishops who comprise it.
The official title is “the causes and context of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States (1950-2010), and the research and conclusions were done by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York. John Jay had done a 2004 report on “the nature and scope” of the priest abuse issue.
In both cases, John Jay gathered data through surveys of U.S. diocese, including Scranton. Bambera said John Jay had issued “an extensive questionnaire relative to the diocese in general and specific to each case of allegations” against any priest.
Bambera was not in office at the time of the survey and he said he had nothing to do with the study. But he was bishop when the USCCB held one of two annual meetings last November and unveiled a preliminary version of the report, which was finalized and made public this month.
“I wasn’t certain what to expect when the preliminary report came out, but we got to see the final report about two weeks before it was made public and it was essentially the same as the preliminary,” Bambera said.
Reams of data
The report cites reams of data that include the number of priests who faced allegations, the number of those allegations that were substantiated, the number of victims abused, and more nuanced issues such as the years the abusers attended seminary in relation to the year the abuses occurred.
Some of the key conclusions:
 |
| Bishop Joseph Bambera of the Diocese of Scranton says he is aware of the massive social changes spawned by the 1960s and 1970s and their impact on the Catholic Church. |
• “No single cause” of sexual abuse of minors by priests is identified by the research, but “Social and cultural changes in the 1960s and 1970s manifested in increased levels of deviant behavior in the general society and also among priests of the Catholic Church in the United States.”
• Factors specific to the Church – changes in seminary training, as well as in screening – “contributed to the decline” of abuse cases from the mid 1980s on.
• The Church’s requirement that priests be celibate and that only men be priests remained unchanged throughout the period studied, event though the number of abuse cases rose and then declined. Researches conclude this means those Church rules were not factors in the abuse cases.
• “A substantial delay in the reporting of sexual abuse is common.” Victims often did not step forward until years, even decades after the abuse occurred. This is largely true in the Diocese of Scranton. Bambera pointed to the most recent allegation leveled against a diocesan priest in February. The accusations stemmed from the priest’s time serving in the Missouri Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in the 1980s.
• Priests who participated in “human formation” training in seminaries – which only became widespread in the 1980s, Bambera noted – were less likely to become abusers.
• Less than 5 percent of the priests with allegations of abuse exhibited behavior consistent with a diagnosis of pedophilia. The report argues that it is “inaccurate to refer to abusers as “pedophile priests.” It notes that 80 percent of priests who underwent psychological treatment admitted violating their celibacy commitment, but that “most sexual behavior was with adults.”
• Priests who acknowledged they were homosexual were no more likely to abuse minors than other priests.
Bambera acknowledge discussion of the topic is difficult. “I don’t know if most of the faithful find it palatable to talk about this,” he said.
“The main thing is that this is a reminder to me and the people I work with that we constantly have to reassess what we are doing for the victims, and to communicate to the public what we are doing. This is a priority for me.”
Critics in lay media
The report’s conclusion that much of the problem stemmed from the social changes of the 1960s and 1970s has evoked strong criticism in lay media. The Philadelphia Inquirer satirized the notion in an editorial cartoon, and pundits have portrayed it as scapegoating.
But Bambera said if you read the full report, it makes a strong case, one his own experience backs up.
“I grew up in Carbondale when Woodstock was going on,” he said, referring to the 1969 rock music festival in New York that drew an estimated 500,000 people and became an icon of the era.
Woodstock occurred about 100 miles from Carbondale, and Bambera, who would have turned 13 that year, recalled how people passing through would often ask directions to the farm where the event was held.
“I can remember when media descended on that place, it was a phenomenon you couldn’t miss,” Bambera said.
It was also emblematic of shifting social mores.
“I think there was less concern and less value of rules and structure,” he said.
Men entering seminaries reflected those changes, but seminary training initially didn’t account for that. Seminaries now work on “formation” in four key areas: Intellectual, spiritual, pastoral and human. At that time human formation – helping priests deal with “personal and emotional issues, issues of sexuality and celibacy,” was hardly in the equation, Bambera said.
“Every seminary had a great, great focus on the intellectual formation, and a good focus on the spiritual formation,” he said.
“The 1980s saw a real focus on pastoral formation,” which refers to community outreach, such as work in hospitals. “Human formation only began to emerge then. “
“Now they have seminary work and course work on human formation that was, unfortunately, sorely lacking in the past.”
Candidates reviewed
Candidates for seminary also undergo a “battery of psychological testing,” Bambera said, both standardized written tests and one-on-one interviews. Once in seminary, they face peer reviews, reviews from advisers and review by faculty.
The diocese has changed the seminaries it uses. Previously, priests attended the diocesan seminary in Dalton, taking additional classes at the University of Scranton. Such a set up is called an “open seminary.”
But Bambera’s predecessor, Bishop Joseph Martino, closed the Dalton Seminary because the number of men attending had dropped to single digits. Bambera said Martino sent men to St. Charles Borromeo seminary in Philadelphia, a “closed seminary” that handles both religious formation and college classes on the same campus.
Martino was a product of St. Charles himself, and had resided there for much of his time as an auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese of Philadelphia before being appointed to head the Scranton Diocese in 2003.
Bambera said he decided to send most seminarians to Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston, a section of Queens borough in New York City. It is an open seminary, with students attending classes either at St. John’s University in Manhattan or Fordham in the Bronx.
“In my experience, and the experience and tradition of this diocese, that seminary has been an open environment,” Bambera said. “I think it produces men much more open to everyday life. I think it adds to the human formation.”
While the John Jay report concludes that the emphasis on human formation has gone a long way to reducing abuse cases, it notes that many past cases occurred years after a priest left the seminary, and suggests it is important for a diocese to conduct regular assessments of priests after they enter ministry. Bambera said the diocese does that in a number of ways now.
The biggest is a mandate following the 2002 outbreak of national news stories about failures by the Church to be quick and upfront in dealing with abuse cases. The diocese began requiring all priests – as well as employees and volunteers who serve for more than 20 hours in a year - to undergo training on recognizing and preventing abuse.
Online mandate
For priests, there is an ongoing, monthly online component to the training they must complete, Bambera said, adding that he must meet the same requirement. Participation is tracked, so no priest can avoid the mandate.
The diocese has spent more than $700,000 conducting the training since it was started, Bambera noted.
The diocese brings in experts to discuss such issues for continuing education conferences it holds annually for priests. Bambera also noted that all priests undergo a criminal background check that is updated every three years.
Bambera said the diocese is reviewing the code of conduct for priests and the policy for responding to abuse allegations, both of which were set up originally in 1993 and revised following the national scandal in 2002. He promised any changes will be made public once finalized.
Public disclosure is essential, the John Jay report concluded, and Bambera said he agrees. He cited his decision to address the abuse issue in his homily during the April 21 “Chrism Mass,” which includes the annual blessing of oils used in various Church sacraments.
“That’s something I think we would not have done 10 years ago,” Bambera said.
He also pointed to the fact that he agreed to an open interview on the topic.
“This is a necessary dimension of my job, to tell the public how we handle the situations,” Bambera said.
The diocese sticks to five “principles” when abuse allegations are leveled, Bambera said. “Act swiftly. If the allegation is admitted to or substantiated, the priest must be removed from the environment where he is, removed from ministry. Notify civil authorities. Provide outreach to the victims. And be as transparent as one can be.”
The John Jay report notes that the Church was often slow to respond fully to the abuse cases.
“There is little evidence that diocesan leaders met directly with victims before 2002; consequently, the understanding of the harm of sexual abuse to the victim was limited,” the report notes. “The procedures for formal canonical response … were complicated, time-consuming, and often avoided.”
Asked if he feels his predecessors handled abuse allegations effectively, Bambera – who has been criticized himself by a national victim’s advocacy group – demurred.
“Every case is unique,” he said. “So it is difficult for me to say what Bishop Martino, or Bishop (James) Timlin or Bishop (Jerome) Hannan did is right or wrong.
“When I get a case, the public can look at it and make assumptions. I know all the details.”
Diocese data
Data the diocese provided the John Jay researchers showed that, from 1950 to 2002, the diocese had allegations of abuse leveled at 25 priests, 15 of which were substantiated, Bambera said. There were 36 victims, which means at least some of those 15 were repeat offenders.
The diocese had a total of 873 priests in that time frame, so “the percentage of priests with founded allegations was 1.7 percent,” Bambera noted.
“But one case is one too many for the victim, and the Church has to acknowledge that.
“For a victim, they don’t want to hear all the good things I’m doing. They want to hear, and need to hear and be reassured, that their needs are being met, and that we are taking steps to keep other people safe.”
The John Jay report keeps that need in focus. It is a reminder that the problem is not resolved.
“The saddest part for me is that we have to have this conversation,” Bambera said. “What gives me hope is that this is another opportunity to retool and refocus our efforts to eradicate this problem.”
Contact: mguydish@timesleader.com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.