NEW YORK
Post-Star
Meg Hagerty
ALBANY
Edward Scharfenberger remembers having a couple of sleepless nights after getting a call from the apostolic nuncio at the Vatican notifying him he had been named to succeed Howard Hubbard as the 10th bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
He wasn’t afraid of leaving the Brooklyn parish he served for 12 years, but he feared in his new position he’d be stuck behind a desk all day.
But the 66-year-old has not been languishing in his office since he started his duties in April. He has made it a priority to meet the Catholics in the 12 deanery, 14-county area bishopric.
Kenneth Goldfarb, director of communications for the diocese, said even he has trouble keeping track of the bishop. …
From 2002 to 2008, Scharfenberger was a member of the Diocesan Review Board for Sexual Abuse of Minors for the Brooklyn Diocese, charged with evaluating the way sexual abuse cases were handled. He and a committee determined whether an allegation was credible, then made recommendations to the bishop. During his last year on the board, he took on the role of Promoter of Justice and worked to protect and pursue individual and ecclesial rights in the church.
Sharfenberger acknowledged there was a “lack of vigilance” in the past on the part of church officials to respond to allegations of sexual abuse. As far back as the 1970s, mental health professionals were suggesting perpetrators only needed counseling and reassignment to a new parish and all would be well, he said.
“Those were obviously, as you look back, not the right decisions to be made. Never again,” he said. “Now we urge the public, if they see something, to say something. To many of the victims, more than anything else, the most healing thing is just knowing that somebody is listening to them and takes them seriously.”
Scharfenberger praised Pope Francis for reaching out and apologizing to victims of clergy sexual abuse. In the past 10 years, the Catholic Church has had to do “personal soul searching,” he said.
“That was important. The church that only focuses in on itself and, God forbid, in a very defensive way, is not going to be effective in claiming the Gospel. That having been said, what I like about the Francis approach is that it doesn’t seem like he’s doing this in order to bring people to convert, to proselytize. That’s very distasteful,” he said.
Scharfenberger said the Albany diocese has an agreement with each of the district attorneys in the 14 counties and if an allegation is made, it is forwarded to that office immediately. In addition, the diocese conducts its own investigation with the review board.
“I’m personally present throughout that process to keep an eye on things,” he said. “My goal is to be transparent, to follow law and go beyond in terms of those that have been affected.”
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