BishopAccountability.org
	Ex-clergyman Links Scandals to Vatican By Dave Battagello Windsor Star July 23, 2011 http://www.windsorstar.com/news/clergyman+links+scandals+Vatican/5148490/story.html Patrick Wall was fed up being shuffled from parish to parish as the replacement after yet another priest would get busted for sexually abusing children or other indiscretions. Then in 1997 the former college football player turned priest was told he was being sent to the Bahamas to oversee 10 wayward priests who had been exiled there by Rome following abuse allegations in the U.S. "I remember sitting in my abbot's office," said Wall, then in his early 30s. "I had no exit plan, but there was no way I was going to live a celibate life and be a 'defence lawyer' for child sex abuse cases. That was my destiny if the church had its way. "It was at that point I told them, 'I don't know where I'm going, but I'm done with this whole thing.'" Wall has become one of most prominent fighters in the world against child sex abuse in the Catholic Church. He has been employed by lawyers as a consultant on thousands of cases from Alaska to Australia. His main employment is as senior consultant at the Los Angeles law firm of Manly and Stewart, one of the most widely recognized firms in the U.S. handling civil cases of child sex abuse. "All five of my first assignments were to clean up messes of priests who sexually abused," said Wall, who co-authored Sex, Priests and Secret Code with another well-known former priest, Thomas Doyle. "At first, I thought it was an anomaly and I was being loyal and protecting the church" by making amends with parishioners. "By the fourth parish, I learned it was pattern and practice. I felt like an idiot. It felt like I was working for the mob, but I was working for holy mother church." The ultimate reason child sex abuse and the Catholic Church has remained a crisis for decades is nobody is celibate, Wall believes. "Every time you have a really bad guy and use coercive power to turn him in he says 'I'm going to turn you in.' The vast majority of priests have girlfriends or boyfriends or are only intermittently celibate, so nobody can stand up and blow the whistle." Many simply cannot report these priests or it brings scrutiny on themselves, Wall said. Mark Adkinson, spokesman for the London diocese, said the church doesn't know the number of priests who are not celibate. "I''ve been working for the church over 10 years and celibacy is not something polled or asked," said Adkinson. "I don't think it's something easy and is described as a gift from God. But it's definitely not something seen as to impede our decision-making regarding child sexual abuse. "A lot of people have theories as to causes with the issue. Whatever the reason, sexually abusing children is illegal and there is no place for it in the church." Wall's boss - lawyer John Manly - has represented thousands of child sex abuse victims involving priests since the mid-1990s. Both men believe the problem is linked to Rome and the pope, saying only true leadership from the Vatican can bring change. "Despite many opportunities to fix this they just give it lip service and no real change occurs," Manly said. "They have to throw offending priests under the bus. "The fact you have bishops who protect pedophiles shows the church simply doesn't care and puts priests ahead of kids. They've had plenty of time to get their house in order."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.