Sexual Abuse in the Church: William Lynch on Why a New Pope Doesn't Mean Justice

By William Lynch
Mercury News
March 22, 2013

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_22842278/sexual-abuse-new-pope-isnt-enough-bring-justice

On its surface the election of Pope Francis would appear to offer renewed hope for true reform within the Catholic Church.

Two weeks into his reign the honeymoon continues, with the media marveling at the new pope's easy smile and obvious warmth. They speak of his willingness to live modestly and travel around Rome in a Volkswagen instead of a big limousine.

While the media have the power to effect real change, they continue to focus on the superficial while ignoring the elephant in the room.

The real question to be addressed is this: When and how will Pope Francis confront the ongoing cover-up of the sexual abuse of children within his church?

I am a victim of this Catholic Church. And I want an answer to that question.

Will Lynch in San Francisco, 2012. (LiPo Ching)

When I was seven years old and at a Catholic Church camping trip in northern California, my four year old brother and I were raped by Father Jerold Lindner. Lindner, who has been accused of abusing many others, including his own family members, has never been prosecuted. Still a priest, he roams freely from the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos while still being paid by his enablers, the Catholic Church.

In 2010 I drove to the Jesuit Center to confront Fr. Lindner. It was my intention to persuade him to sign a confession. Unfortunately, what resulted was a physical altercation and my arrest. Right or wrong, I had taken the law into my own hands.

During my 2012 trial I took responsibility for my actions. Nevertheless, the jury disregarded the law and my confession, acquitting me. Clearly sympathetic to my plight, they were acknowledging my right to protect myself in the face of a legal system and church that failed to do so.

Not unlike many large corporations, what has driven the Catholic Church for centuries is money and unfettered power. For just those reasons, the church refuses to take responsibility for all its Fr. Jerrolds.

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, one of Pope Francis' electors, is a perfect example of all that's wrong in this church. Mahony recently paid out $10 million to four of his diocese's abuse victims. Church documents reveal that in 1986, one of Mahony's priests confessed to him that he had sexually abused two boys. In a 2010 deposition, Mahony explained why he didn't go to the police: "Well, today it would (be appropriate). But back then that isn't the way these matters were approached."

So it's only now fashionable for Mahony to protect children? Truly sickening.

My story and Mahony's blatant criminal neglect are sobering reminders of why the Catholic Church will never reform on its own. Only when flawed church policies and legal strategies are deemed criminal and no longer economically viable will church leaders be forced to take action against their in-house child abusers.

The most effective means to force those reforms are twofold:

1) The elimination of all civil and criminal statutes of limitations for the sexual abuse of children nationwide.

2) The withholding of all monetary contributions to the Catholic Church.

Stop wishing and hoping that this new Pope might be different. That's irrelevant.

Reach out to your local representatives and law enforcement to demand real change.

And stop reaching into your pocket.

Hit them where it hurts — in court and in the wallet.

Only then will the enablers be stripped of their power.

Only then will our children be safe.