Depaul Catholics Weigh in on Clergy Sex Abuse Files Released by Chicago Archdiocese
By Tom Fowkes
After weeks of anticipation that followed a public announcement by Cardinal Francis George in Dec. 2013, over 6,000 pages of internal Chicago Archdiocese documents concerning cases of sexual abuse by priests were released publicly on Tuesday. The extensive records, which the Associated Press called “the broadest look yet into how one of (the) largest and most prominent American dioceses responded to the scandal,” offer an unvarnished and disquieting glimpse of years of abuse and systematic concealment. The documents feature correspondence between church officials, lurid details of individual acts and personal information on the accused in 30 of the at least 65 cases where the Archdiocese states it has credible claims of child abuse. Their release came through a settlement between the organization’s attorneys and law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, which represents numerous victims and has made the documents available on their website. The names of these victims and other details were censored from the records. “This has been one of the most painful chapters in the history of the Catholic Church, which is a history of 2000 years, with very beautiful moments and very painful moments as any human history,” Fr. Guillermo Campuzano of University Ministry said. The release of the documents is one of the most proximal and therefore powerful episodes in the global crisis of clergy sexual abuse for Chicago and DePaul Catholics. Campuzano further said that such incidents are a “terrible contradiction of who we are and who we are supposed to be…this is both a sickness and a crime. Both dimensions are very difficult to manage and to explain and to understand.” Cardinal George stated in an open letter, “painful though publicly reviewing the past can be, it is part of the accountability and transparency to which the archdiocese is committed.” Archdiocese officials also stated that the majority of cases featured in the files occurred between 1988 and 1996, none after George became Archbishop of Chicago in 1997, and that all incidents were “ultimately reported to authorities.” However, attorneys and victims allege that despite the Archdiocese’s emphasis on “transparency,” certain allegations came to light and were subsequently mishandled by George and other current church officials. Attorney Jeff Anderson’s website highlights an entire set of documents that detail “Cardinal George’s knowledge of abusive priests,” and seem to contradict his assertion that all of the incidents were “perpetrated by priests whom neither I nor many younger clergy have ever met or talked to,” as stated in his public letter. Nevertheless, members of DePaul’s Catholic community expressed their support for the decision to make this information public on Tuesday. Christina Teach, 19, a DePaul sophomore and psychology major who is also on the Catholic Campus Ministry (CCM) Pastoral Council stated that, “I was really upset when I heard that they’d tried to cover it up and just kind of pushed it under the rug, because that’s not taking responsibility for your actions, and if anything it’s not giving anyone closure.” Teach, who plans Catholic Community Night events at DePaul, also said that she thinks “the Church does need to take responsibility for what its clergy did, and definitely releasing it to the public…I think that that’s obviously a really great thing.” “I think that (it’s) necessary,” Robert Gilmore, CCM’s Coordinator of Faith Formation, said. “A lot of these documents, what you’ll see is that they’re dealing with abuse and allegations of abuse from the past. So as important as these are, I think we need to be looking forward as well.” Fr. Campuzano expressed similar sentiments. “I think that obviously the healing of the victims is the most important thing, but the healing of the institution is also essential for this never to happen again…the best way for institutional healing is to recover and reengage fully in our mission.” However, Campuzano also acknowledged the necessity of the scrutiny on the church’s past indiscretions. “From the perspective of the victims, it is only going to be enough when there is justice, and I totally understand that,” Campuzano said. Although the documents released Tuesday meticulously detail the misconduct of the accused clergy as well as church official’s attempts to move them from parish to parish or place them in treatment centers instead of reporting incidents to authorities, some feel that the level of disclosure is still inadequate. Attorney Chris Hurley said to USA Today that “ they have hand-picked 30 priests, but if they really are all about redemption and forgiveness they should release documents involving all the priests.” Christina Teach also championed the need for further revelations. “I would love to see that, for the sake of being thorough and for the sake of, like I said, taking responsibility.” “I hope that helps in the healing process of the many people who were hurt by it,” said Robert Gilmore. “I can say that me, my friends and the people that I go to church with, we were all hurt by this. Not necessarily directly in the sense that we were the victim of the abuse firsthand, but we were all victims of the abuse.” Gilmore attributes much of the current stigma on priests and the Catholic Church to media coverage that has been “very, very focused on sensationalism. I think that there are some very good things about that, because it got the light of day and it got the public’s eye and it got the attention…[but] I think that just the way our media works in the United States has in many ways perpetuated the kind of circus-like atmosphere that surrounds some of these cases.”
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