Release secret clergy abuse files, lay Catholics urge Archbishop Sartain

By Joel Connelly
Seattle PI
June 8, 2016

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/politics/article/Release-secret-clergy-abuse-files-Catholics-7971453.php

Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain: A letter and petition by lay Catholics, with prominent signers, urges him release "all files" on clergy sex abuse, and to give independence and real powers to a lay Review Board.

The Archdiocese of Seattle must release "all files" and settlements related to credible claims of abuse by clergy and religious who have ministered in the diocese, according to an on-line letter petition addressed by lay Catholics to Archbishop J. Peter Sartain.

"Full disclosure of secret files and the ongoing involvement of an independent Review Board are necessary to create a sustainable culture and structure of deterrence and accountability, thereby significantly reducing the possibility that this systematic evil will ever happen again," said the letter, which has garnered 155 signatures.

The archdiocese, last January, released the names of 77 priests, members of religious orders and one nun where allegations had been admitted, established or able to be substantiated. 

Forty one of the individuals on the list were deceased.

The Archdiocese has released names but not investigative reports.  Two early signers of the petition are Seattle University law professor and former King County Superior Court Judge Terry Carroll, and ex-U.S. Attorney Mike McKay.

The two men served as chair and vice chair of an archdiocesan sex review board.  In 2004, they recommended to then-Archbishop Alexander Brunett that offenses by a priest, Fr. Harold Quigg, be made public.

Brunett declined.  The decision still grated Carroll a decade later, when it was revealed that Quigg still wore clerical garb and performed baptisms, weddings and funerals at his former parish.  He died last November.

In the words of McKay's brother John McKay, also a former U.S. Attorney for Western Washington, the two men "have waged a long lonely battle for justice for the victims of abuse in the Catholic Church. John McKay has also signed the letter/petition.

The petition minces no words.  It acknowledges Sartain's "deep concern" for abuse victims, and offers of pastoral care.  But it criticizes "incomplete response" and argues that "more is needed." 

"We recognize that the steps we urge you to take are not easy steps, but we also believe that God's Spirit will be with us as we take them together," it adds.  "'When there is mercy, justice is more just, and it fulfills its true essence' (Pope Francis)"

The steps recommended are twofold:

--Sartain should "establish and implement a protocol for the release of all files, memoranda, settlements and communications related to credible claims of abuse by all clergy and religious who have administered in this Archdiocese or will do so in the future."

The names of victims would be redacted.  It quotes conservative Chicago Cardinal Frances George when he released files in 2014:  "We cannot change the past but we hope we can rebuild trust through honest and open dialogue."

--The Archdiocese should empower a reconstituted Review Board.  It should have "broad independent access to all Church files concerning clergy abuse of minors.  It must have authority to investigate and make recommendations on all matters relating to such abuse in the Archdiocese.

"The majority of members on this independent Review Board should be selected by the laity and all of its recommendations made public unless the Archbishop explains in writing to the Catholic community the reasons for not doing so."

In a decision announced last week, Pope Francis gave several Vatican offices the authority to initiate action to remove Catholic bishops who are negligent in their response to sexual abuse allegations.

The Pope determined that such negligence constitues "gave cause" under the Code of Canon Law that can lead to removal from office.

Sartain is a circumspect cleric.  The Archbishop has not answered a question from Seattle press since the 2010 news conference announcing his appointment.  He spoke only briefly on his Vatican assignment to oversee and bring in line the largest organization of America's Catholic nuns.

The Archbishop's public voice is his annual speech to the March for Life in Olympia, and in videos made for the 2012 campaign against a marriage equality referendum on the November ballot.

The online petition concludes:

"We wish to emphasize that as Catholics we are deeply conscious of our baptismal identity, of our vocation and mission in the Church, and of the many dedicated and faithful clergy in our Archdiocese . . .

"We pray that you recognize that full and open disclosure of these files and reconstituting the Review Board as a permanent, independent body are necessary if we are to become a more just, healing Church, one that will bring us all closer to the Mercy of God."