Open Letter to the Roman Catholic Bishops of the United States of America

By Patrick Collins
Catholic Whistleblowers
August 7, 2013

http://www.catholicwhistleblowers.org/Thoughts.htm#Butler_Victims

Ten years ago, on my 39th anniversary of ordination, I sent this letter to the bishops of the United States.  On this May 31, 2013, my 49th anniversary, I share these words because they remain painfully true in my opinion.

Nevertheless I rejoice today in 49 years of priestly life and ministry.   Despite these leadership problems, our faith community continues to deepen and do good works for the Reign of God.   And my spiritual life continues to deepen, be enriched and bring me great joy each day.

Dear Bishops,

As I have witnessed men and women committing themselves to the “for better or for worse” in the Sacrament of Marriage, I have often thought: “You really don’t know what you are in for!” And, as I have listened to their marital difficulties unfolding over the years, I realize how correct I was. Only over the years of trying to be faithful to that vow can they come to understand the great difficulties associated with keeping the promises they made on the day of their marriage.

Similarly for me on the day my ordination to the ministerial priesthood. When I placed my hands into those of Peoria, Illinois bishop John Baptist Franz on May 31, 1964, I heard him ask me, in Latin of course, “Do you promise to me and to my successors obedience and respect?” With trust in God and the goodness of bishops, I, without a clue as to the future implications of my response, responded innocently “I promise.”

If I had had any prescience that day about difficulties I might have in keeping that promise, it would probably have been in the arena of obedience rather than respect. Surrendering one’s freedom to another is a bold and seemingly foolish action and obedience has never been easy for this strong-willed convert to the Roman Catholic Church. But never did I suspect on ordination day – nor in most of the nearly 39 years since – that the greatest trial for me in keeping that sacramental promise would be respect. Yet in the face of the current sexual abuse crisis in the church, obedience seems like “a piece of cake” in comparison to fulfilling my pledge to offer to bishops the respect which is their due.

What do I mean by this rather brash admission? Respect must be deserved as well as promised, I am discovering. And many bishops are proving to be unworthy of such respect from us priests. Why?

Too many in our church leadership have engaged in embarrassing secrecy and complicity in the crisis of clerical sexual abuse. Past systemic forms of episcopal governance have facilitated this. And this not only in Boston. Some bishops continue to protect their brother bishops whom they know to be guilty by not investigating allegations against them for improper handling of cases. Many of us priests know as well of examples in which priests have given incriminating information about other priests to bishops and nothing has happened. In one case I have in mind, the offending priest was even promoted to a prominent position after his bishop was informed of the priest’s inappropriate sexual conduct.

Which is worse, many of us priests are asking: The unspeakable sin and crime of abusing children committed by less than 6 percent of priests in this nation – or the much larger percentage of bishops who have covered up, paid off and lied for the sake of their self-protective behaviors?

In the years prior to the current sexual scandals many bishops seemed to protect the institution of the church and its assets by protecting the violating priests but not adequately respecting and serving the violated. Now it seems they are bending over backwards to make up for those errors by almost failing to honor the due process deserved by the violating priests while being totally dedicated to the violated. There is a noted consistency here, it would seem. The primary driving energy would appear to be to protect themselves and the patrimony of the institutional church. In neither case is the energy primarily about protecting and honoring persons – either the priest or the children and the family. That is sad to realize. Because this is becoming more and more obvious, our leaders are finding diminished respect from more than just the clergy.

According to the Dallas Morning News of June 12, 2002, 111 out of 189 US bishops have at least one case of clerical sexual abuse in which they did not act properly. This claim has never been refuted to my knowledge. After 1985 – when evidence about this problem was clearly present to the bishops’ conference – there can be little or no excuse for such episcopal failures in administration. And we are all suffering because of it.

To me too many of our church’s leaders today are tragically like emperors without clothes who don’t realize their public nudity. They seem to think that setting in place revised norms for handling sexual abuse by priests and deacons is the end of the matter without dealing with their own forms of administrative abuse in these cases. They seem too ready to forgive themselves or to look the other way.

Bishops’ credibility as leaders can only be improved when those who have participated in the systemic evil which has protected the ecclesiastical institution at all costs are, like the offending priests, removed from their posts. Offending priests have been put out in the cold – for even one offense many years ago, no matter how effective their ministry in the meantime. But bishops can wring their hands with public apologies and yet continue in their ministries without recrimination. This makes the ordination day promise of respect for bishops difficult to keep.

Why should priests appropriately be held accountable for their carnal sins and the bishops not be disciplined for their participation in this sad instance of systemic evil? Many of us priests would like to have an answer to that question during 2003.

In the writings of St. John of the Cross we learn that “The Dark Night” is where God approaches making space and purifying – making space for the gift of the forgiving and liberating God Self in human history – as in the Midnight of the First Christmas. My prayer is for Light in this Dark Night for our national and ecclesiastical leadership. We need their authentic authority, their more honest and humble message and their more human and humane style of governance and living if we priests are to more readily keep our promise of respect for our bishops.

May the Light of Christmas show them – and each of us The Way. My prayer this Christmas is that The Light may shine in our darkness – a Light which no darkness can ever overcome – whether in our nation, our churches or within ourselves.

Sincerely yours,

Rev. Patrick W. Collins, Ph.D.

Priest of the Diocese of Peoria IL