Pope Benedict XVI Chalks up Abuse of Children to "Mystery"

By Robert Kinkead
New Jersey Newsroom
June 19, 2012

http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/international/the-mystery-of-child-abuse


Pope Benedict XVI added a new mystery to the Catholic faith last Sunday.

Speaking about the abuse of children by priests and other religious figures, the Pontiff said, “How are we to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lord’s body and confessed their sins in the Sacrament of Penance have offended in this way? It remains a mystery.”

The papal comments were made in a recorded TV address delivered at the close of an outdoor Mass attended by 75,000 Catholics, many from overseas, in Ireland's largest sports stadium. Ireland's prime minister and president attended the Mass, the final event of a Eucharistic Congress aimed at shoring up flagging faith.

Not everyone agreed with the Pope.

"The pontiff's wrong: there's little mystery here," said Barbara Dorris in an emailed statement reported by the Associated Press.

Dorris, a SNAP official, said the pope was speaking in “platitudes, refusing to even accurately name the crisis.”

SNAP, or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is a victims' advocacy group based in Chicago and St. Louis.

Sex abuse cases involving Catholic clergy have been a significant and growing concern for the church for well over a generation. Cases began receiving widespread public attention beginning in the mid-1980s. There have

been an increasing number of criminal prosecutions of the abusers and sometimes of the church hierarchy which allegedly protected them. Civil lawsuits against the church's dioceses and parishes are estimated to have cost the church more than a billion dollars.

In recent years, law enforcement officials in many states have made it clear that church authorities are legally

bound to treat accusations of clerical sexual abuse as criminal matters to be investigated by police and adjudicated, if appropriate, by the courts.

In years past, it had been common practice to transfer priests accused of abuse to a new assignment, often sending them first for treatment at a facility such as the Catholic-run “Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete” rehabilitation facility in New Mexico.

Originally established in 1947 to treat priests with alcohol problems, the Paraclete facility gradually evolved

into a major way station for Catholic clerical sex abusers.

However, even the founder of the Paraclete, Father Gerald Fitzgerald, had strong reservations about his facility’s capability to rehabilitate sex offenders. As early as 1957 Fitzgerald wrote to Matthew Francis Brady, the Bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire, "We are amazed to find how often a man who would be behind bars if he were not a priest is entrusted with the (care of souls.)”

The United States reportedly has the highest number of clerical sex abuse cases, with Ireland ranked

second. A significant number of cases have also been reported in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

On May 16, 2011 the Vatican published new guidelines, telling the bishops and heads of

Catholic religious orders worldwide to develop "clear and coordinated" procedures for dealing with the sexual abuse allegation by May 2012.

The guidelines instruct the bishops to cooperate with the police and respect the relevant local laws in investigating and reporting allegations of sexual abuse by the clergy to the civic authorities, but do not make such reporting mandatory. The guidelines also reinforce bishops' exclusive authority in dealing with abuse cases. Victims advocacy groups criticized the new guidelines as insufficient, arguing that the recommendations do not have the status of church law and do not provide any specific enforcement mechanisms.

In 2010, BBC reported that the latest research by experts indicate that Catholic priests may be no more likely

than others to abuse. However, a major cause of the scandal was the cover-ups and other alleged shortcomings in the way the church has dealt with the abuses. Particularly, the actions of Catholic bishops in responding to allegations of clerical abuse came under harsh criticism.

Meanwhile, as the church hierarchy struggles with the management of this issue, Catholic laity must decide what to make of this new mystery. Catholics well-versed in the faith are already dealing with The Seven Sacred

Mysteries, the Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, the Glorious Mysteries and the Luminous Mysteries.