BishopAccountability.org
	Abuse Victims in Church Cover-Up Deserve Justice By Darren M. Allen Rutland Herald [Vermont] May 21, 2006 http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20060521/NEWS/605210308/1030 Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano says he is in a "no-win situation" because he is trying to balance the interests of the church with those who were abused by it. In a rare interview, Matano told my colleague Kevin O'Connor that his decision to begin sheltering the assets of parish churches and schools was just and proper. "I want to reach out to victims," he said. "But I also have to be conscious of the people in the pews. It's certainly just to ask the church to be accountable, but is it just to destroy parishes, schools and other agencies of care to do so?" Those are fair questions, and the answers will have sweeping consequences for the 118,000 Vermonters who are "in the pews." But they come too late, and they have the patina of pity the church wants from its adherents and critics alike. Perhaps the bishop – and his predecessors and those in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church – should continue their soul search and continue to question why a culture of sexual abuse at the hands of priests was not only covered-up for decades but allowed to flourish. I don't think those questions are being asked, at least judging from the public actions of Vermont's top Catholic. Earlier, in defending his move to shield some church assets from the potential hands of abuse victims who have filed lawsuits, the bishop said, "In such litigious times, it would be a gross act of mismanagement if I did not do everything possible to protect our parishes and the interests of the faithful from unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault." A "gross act of mismanagement?" How about those who were the victims of abuse at the hands of the Rev. Edward Paquette, who, according to a recent article by O'Connor, was transferred from parish to parish by his superiors despite their knowledge of his history of abuse? Are the victims, in trying to recover a modicum of humanity that they lost at his hands being "unjust and totally unreasonable?" The bishop later said he was referring not to the victims, but to their lawyers. Well, that's comforting. I was an observer of the Catholic church for decades before deciding to convert in my early 20s. I was attracted to its majesty, its ritual and its seeming intellectual approach to theology. Its unbroken millennia of connections to Jesus were comforting and mystifying, and having gone through the Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults under the skillful tutelage of an openly gay Catholic at a wonderfully inclusive Catholic church in Baltimore, I believed that it really offered a grand opportunity to connect with other human beings. Over time, I became more devout as I found Catholics who, despite the hate-filled messages against people like my RCIA instructor, believed that despite its flaws, the institution still had a great deal to teach and give. But three years ago, I gave up. The abuse scandal had exploded, and the more we learned about it, the more the church looked like any other multi-national corporation trying to cover up wrongdoing. It was no different, in my view, than the chicanery and lies that sunk the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, its big-time client Enron Corp., and other once-respectable titans of industry. Except that it is different. The church's "product" is ephemeral and spiritual — and that's why the betrayal is so wrong. So the bishop of Vermont feels under siege and like he's in a no-win situation, fighting off "unjust" forces, even as he wants "to be sensitive to victims." It's too bad that Matano, who appears to be a decent and kind man, believes he's in a no-win situation. But the people who suffered abuse at the hands of men who billed themselves as servants of God have been in such a predicament for decades. It's about time for the church to know how that feels. Darren Allen writes weekly about Vermont issues, people and events. You can reach him at darren.allen@timesargus.com.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.