BishopAccountability.org
	New Leader's Job Is to Protect and Heal Archdiocese Pottstown Mercury July 25, 2011 http://pottsmerc.com/articles/2011/07/25/opinion/srv0000012675506.txt Cardinal Justin Rigali's announcement Tuesday that he is resigning his post as leader of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's 1.5 million Roman Catholics could be interpreted as having several meanings. The most obvious is that the archbishop of Philadelphia, who was ordained a priest 50 years ago, is now age 76 and entitled to retirement. His predecessor, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, who was Philadelphia's archbishop for 15 years, was 80 when Rigali took over the post on Oct. 7, 2003. Another explanation circulating among his critics is that Rigali is resigning — or has been asked to resign by Pope Benedict XVI — because of his alleged mishandling of complaints about sexual abuse of children and adolescents by priests and archdiocesan employees. In February, a former priest, two current priests and a lay teacher were arrested and charged with sexually abusing boys in archdiocesan churches or schools. An archdiocesan administrator, also a priest, was criminally charged for endangering the welfare of children by not protecting them from their alleged abusers. All five men have denied the allegations. The criminal charges came on the heels of a second Philadelphia grand jury report on clerical sexual abuse that confirmed what was found in the first, released in 2005 — that officials in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia knowingly allowed suspected abusers to remain in the priesthood or among the general public without turning them over to civil authorities. But the grand jury's report was even more damning. It claimed that "apparent abusers — dozens of them, we believe — remain on duty in the archdiocese today with open access to new young prey." Rigali emphatically denied that claim. Nevertheless, he assembled a team headed by former Philadelphia assistant district attorney Gina Maisto Smith to review complaints about current priests. Rigali certainly can't be held accountable for all the cases of alleged clerical sexual abuse that have occurred in the archdiocese. According to the first grand jury investigation, launched by former Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham in 2002, 63 priests allegedly abused children as far back as the 1940s. Unfortunately for Rigali, the arrests have occurred under his watch. On Sept. 8, Rigali will officially turn the reins of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia over to Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, who has led the archdiocese of Denver since 1997. "I don't know why the Holy Father sent me here, but I do trust and I do believe in his judgment," Chaput said on Tuesday. We can give the new Philadelphia archbishop two very good reasons for coming to this archdiocese: To protect and to heal. If he is up to those tasks, he will do a lot toward restoring the trust of the faithful and the good will of the general public that suffers when pedophiles are permitted to find sanctuary within church walls.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.