UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Thomas C. Fox | Jul. 7, 2015
30 years later
Editor’s note: This story is part of a weeklong series dedicated to looking back on 30 years of the abuse crisis in the Catholic church. Read all parts of the series.
We published our first major exposé on the abuse of minors by clergy in our June 7, 1985, issue, just days before the U.S. bishops were to gather at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., for their annual June meeting. Our coverage comprised a long piece out of Louisiana by Jason Berry about a young priest-pedophile in the Lafayette diocese; an equally long report on other predatory priests around the nation by Arthur Jones, our Washington bureau chief; and an editorial written by Jones that scored the bishops for their cover-ups. “Keeping the affair quiet has usually assumed greater importance than any possible effect on the victims themselves.”
Berry and Jones have pursued careers in the best traditions of American journalism — to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable — for the common good of their communities, and often of the entire nation. They do solid journalism. I am proud to have been the editor that provided space and protection for this kind of reporting — two parallel stories within the clergy abuse scandal: the obscene molestation by priests of pre-pubescent and pubescent children, and the enabling cover-ups by their bishops.
We saw these dual patterns from the start. It took years for us to fill out the picture — and we had to do it pretty much on our own. Other Catholic publications wouldn’t touch the story. Most were controlled by bishops who had little or no desire to say anything bad about the church. The secular dailies back then, including The New York Times, seemed unwilling to confront the Catholic church. …
Meanwhile, I had become a polarizing figure; some Catholics, in print and elsewhere, called me “the son of Satan.” Our critics were convinced NCR had set out to “tear down the church.” It was a frequent cry. We’d often print their letters. We lost hundreds, if not thousands, of subscribers.
Charges against our news judgment came home when one NCR board member, Jesuit Fr. Joseph Fichter, called for my resignation. When he received no other support, he resigned from the board.
Looking back at another part of this story, I’d like to share something I have rarely told anyone outside of family and the inner ranks at NCR. I have had special empathy with sex abuse survivors because I am one of them. A Catholic priest molested me when I was 12. The priest (as he died in 1999 and so cannot defend himself, I will not name him) was a friend of the family when he invited me to join him on a three-day vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. My parents happily consented. He molested me the first night in the hotel. It was one of the most frightening nights of my life.
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