Church Makes Progress in Preventing Clergy Abuse
Chicago Sun-Times
Sift through the thousands of pages of secret documents on 36 abusive priests released by the Archdiocese of Chicago Thursday and you find the story of the Rev. Michael Weston. And what a distressing tale it is. The redacted documents, published online, show how Weston repeatedly abused boys as he moved from parish to parish over more than a decade, until he resigned in 1993. Although allegations were recorded as far back as the late 1970s, no action was taken until 2003. One frustrated priest who spoke up early lamented that “nothing would be done” unless photos of the abuse were produced. And there was little chance of that happening. The trail of tragedy disclosed in Thursday’s documents release mirrors stories unearthed in a similar release on about 30 priests in January. The appalling extent of the human tragedy over 60 years no longer is in dispute, nor is the church’s shameful history of sweeping allegations under the rug and allowing offending priests to continue their predations against hundreds of minors. The real question today is whether the archdiocese has finally come to grips with the depth of the scandal, rather than simply react to public pressure. We believe it has. The proof is not in anything the archdiocese might say, but in the hard numbers. That the numbers of complaints are down and that known offenders are out of the ministry tells us the archdiocese has put an effective, proactive program in place to prevent abuse. The statistics since 1992 have moved sharply in the right direction as the number of new allegations has dropped dramatically. Ninety-eight percent of the abuse took place before 1992. Starting under former Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, the archdiocese began requiring background checks and ongoing training. A code of conduct now governs all people who work for the church. All school employees are fingerprinted, and reporting of allegations to secular authorities, such as the police, is mandated. The church also provides support to give victims a voice and assist them in getting therapeutic services. All that is not enough, however. The archdiocese must continue to report the numbers going forward to assure the public that it is maintaining its vigilance. From here on out, the proof must always be in the hard numbers, never in the soft assurances. Among the criticisms leveled Thursday was that the documents should also be posted on websites of affected parishes, which seems reasonable to us. Also, many of the priests working in the Chicago area were not included in the archdiocese’ statistics because they are part of independent religious orders. Those religious orders, too, are morally obligated to prove they now have proper safeguards. The archdiocese clearly was pushed to change its ways by courageous victims who stood up and challenged the cover-ups. But the argument voiced Thursday by one lawyer for victims of clergy abuse that nothing much has changed is simply factually wrong. The archdiocese has taken honest and significant steps to come to grip with its past and safeguard its future. Cardinal Francis George should be commended for doing the heavy lifting to resolve this long and sorry scandal before a new archbishop, Blase Cupich, takes over in less than two weeks. Going forward, the archdiocese carries a heavy responsibility to keep every safeguard against abusive clergy firmly in place, and to remain alert to any and every new allegation.
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