Church Is Committed to Systematic Change

By William Murphy; Bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre
Long Island (NY) Newsday
April 26, 2002

Nothing in my life as a priest and bishop has made me so heartsick as the terrible crime of sexual abuse of children and minors by some priests.

Nothing I can imagine is more horrendous than the violation of a child or a teenager by a priest. It is a betrayal of the trust that everyone has a right to expect. It is a crime that cries to heaven for reparation. It is a violation of the solemn promises a priest has made to God and a destructive cancer that threatens to erode the very inner life of the Church. This tragic situation demands that I, as the bishop of the Rockville Centre Diocese, act responsibly and thoroughly to confront this problem by instituting procedures and means to ensure, as far as possible, that children and teenagers are protected from such actions now and in the future.

As part of that responsibility, I have changed the way that an allegation is immediately addressed. Instead of three priests on my staff handling these allegations, I have established a new Pastoral Intervention team.

One of its members is a priest, Father Robert Batule, who has graduate degrees in sociology and theology. He will receive any complaints and follow up with the priest and the complainant and family, if that is the way the family wishes to proceed. The second member is a social worker with considerable experience in psychotherapy, Sister Sean Foley, who will work with complainants and their families. The third is a law enforcement expert, former Nassau Police Commissioner Donald F. Kane. He will take the information directly to the district attorneys or any other appropriate legal authority, independently of me and my office. He will keep my office informed about the case, and the diocese will continue to work with law enforcement authorities through our legal counsel.

In addition, I am revising the Review Board, which examines sex-abuse allegations. This board will continue to enjoy the expertise of its current psychiatrist and social worker. To that board will be added another psychiatrist and expert in social work - both non-Catholics - parents, a priest and two law enforcement experts.

Their task will be to review every sexual-abuse case from this point forward, to make sure that everything that should be done is done. Only when we have received a report from the authorities that the priest is innocent of the charges, and I have received an assessment of no psychiatric pathology and have been informed that the priest has been cleared by the Review Board, will I consider returning that innocent priest to pastoral ministry.

I pledge that I will never be more lenient than the Review Board, although I may be more stringent.

But there is another profound and systematic change in how we are responding to this crisis. In the past, we bishops often received reports from psychiatrists and psychiatric institutions indicating that a priest had responded well to therapy and could be placed in restricted ministry, as long as he was kept away from minors. As a bishop, I will not do this.

If a priest is not able to care pastorally for children and minors without placing them at risk, then that priest cannot do any kind of pastoral ministry whatsoever. He will not ever be given any ministry here in this diocese or in any other diocese so long as I am bishop of the Rockville Centre Diocese.

I must express once again my deep sorrow and anguish over the criminal and sinful behavior of a few of my brother priests. While they are not many, even one is too many. In my heart I kneel before each and every victim, offering them my help and support with a sorrow that asks forgiveness from God and from them for these heinous acts.

The church must be a beacon of hope and trust. That beacon has been dimmed. I will do all in my power to bring back that light.

[Photo Caption: William Murphy]