Posted on 01/20/2004 9:14:31 AM PST by Akron Al
Extent of abuse cases staggering, official says 01/20/04Joel Rutchick and James F. McCarty
The top financial officer of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese has warned church leaders to expect "shocking" numbers when local figures are released as part of a nationwide report on the extent and cost of child sexual abuse. The findings from the past 52 years are contained in a survey of the 190 U.S. dioceses conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The results of the survey, commissioned by the nation's bishops, are scheduled to be announced Feb. 27. Many bishops around the country already have publicly disclosed the findings for their dioceses, and Bishop Anthony Pilla is expected to provide an advanced look at the Cleveland diocese's numbers in the next several weeks. At a meeting last month of the Catholic Charities Corp.'s board of trustees, Chief Financial Officer Joseph H. Smith said the millions of dollars the diocese spent on settlements with victims, their treatment and legal fees will be disturbing and larger than any figures yet reported in the media, according to people who were there. "People are going to be shocked," one board member said Smith told the group. Smith, reached at home on Monday, did not deny the reports. But he declined to speak specifically about the Cleveland diocese's numbers. Smith said he had been working on the study when he was suspended by Pilla on Jan. 6 after questions of financial wrongdoing were raised against him. Diocesan spokesman Bob Tayek would not speculate on the impact the report may have. "I wouldn't put [the numbers] in any category," Tayek said Monday. "We'll do that when we reveal them." Some of the factors that contributed to Cleveland's financial burden are already known. In December 2002, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason concluded a seven-month investigation of the diocese that found more than 1,000 people claimed to have been victimized as children by priests and church figures. He also found evidence of accusations against nearly 500 possible sexual offenders, of whom 145 were priests. Those numbers are among the highest in the country. In the Boston Archdiocese, considered the epicenter of the scandal, more than 500 people had come forward with clergy-abuse claims by the end of 2002. The archdiocese recently agreed to an $85-million settlement with 540 alleged victims. Last June, the diocese in Louisville, Ky., settled 243 sex-abuse lawsuits for $25.7 million. And the totals for Boston and Louisville could be even higher. Neither diocese has released its final tally of the cost of the sex-abuse scandal. Smith's gloomy assessment for the Catholic Charities board included warnings that donations are in decline and church attendance has waned in the wake of the sex-abuse scandal, several members said. But Smith also reported to the board that all of the diocese's costs related to sex abuse have been covered by insurance and accounting procedures. Smith said no money from Catholic Charities or the diocese's general fund was used to pay sex-abuse-related bills, which are expected to be among the highest in the country. Critics are skeptical about the accuracy of the study. "We think the numbers will be underreported," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "By announcing the results early, the bishops get to say, Look how open we're being,' and they get to put their spin on the numbers. But how do we know they're telling the truth?" Clohessy asked. Plain Dealer news researcher Jo Ellen Corrigan contributed to this story. To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: jrutchick@plaind.com, 216-999-4829 jmccarty@plaind.com, 216-999-4858
|
If this isn't a wakeup call to the NCCB, nothing is.
Agreed. Pilla needs to go because he's not a Catholic. And I personally know of several horrible abuse situations in Cleveland. However, the numbers are definitely inflated for reasons that combine politics and greed by the trial lawyers.
"Well, you were supposed to, yes," McBride said.
"Do you think all these priests do?"
"No," McBride said. "I think they changed their minds and decided it's not a sin."
***
The sad pathetic case of Father McBride says it all. Cleveland is the home of Futurechurch which resides on Church property at St. Mark's Parish.
This entire problem was caused by the fact that the Diocese of Cleveland is in open dissent and no longer believes in Sin. And yet, the groups that caused this situation are seeking to destroy the Church with the Scandal they helped to create.
Thus, you find the vicious anti-Catholics at the Plain Dealer going to the scalndal-causers at Futurechurch and quoting them as experts on how to solve all the Church's problems.
This is where the scandal persists.
I know where you're coming from.
I love the Church and have always treasured my Catholic faith.
However, there is no excusing the way these scandal cases have been mishandled.
I hope that this scandal situation will be for the Church like hitting bottom can be for an alcoholic: that's when they bounce back because there's no way to go but up.
We'll have to return the favor somehow.
But when the media began reporting that worshippers were required to embrace their fellow pew sitters before Communion, uniformity was the last thing on many Catholics' minds. Order me to hug a stranger? More like grounds for GIRM warfare.
As it turned out, the hugging instructions came not from Rome but from the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio. The Rev. J-Glenn Murray, S.J., director of the diocese's liturgy office, apparently decided to use the new GIRM rules as a springboard for an overhaul of Mass gestures in Cleveland-area churches.
Murray decided, for example, that worshippers should pray the Our Father before Communion with their hands raised upward and apart--a posture known as the Orans that some Catholics already use, but which is far from universal. Then there were the infamous hugs, couched as an instruction that people "embrace" those near them instead of shaking hands, the usual gesture in a pre-Communion ritual popularly known as the Kiss of Peace. The most controversial of all of Murray's directives was an instruction that those receiving Communion not kneel down in prayer right afterwards, as most do now, but instead remain standing and singing in their pews.
See the article Mass Confusion at http://www.beliefnet.com/story/135/story_13535_1.html
P.S. This is not a defense of Pilla or his GIRM tampering.
If you were the boss, would you help your lower management if they thwarted your every order? Or would you let them crash and burn and then pick up the pieces.
I agree with this assessment completely, as it has been my own for several years. Furthermore, its myopic to judge the entire Church based on the abberrations of the West, which represents only a fraction of Catholics worldwide.
despite a few upsetting details like the collapse of the institutional church and unthinkable corruption of the clergy that occurred on his watch.
They occurred long before his watch. The beginning of the turning of the tide against this is occurring as a capstone at the ending of his pontificate.
No matter how much it pains traditionalists, history will see JPII as the Pope that began the turnaround from the destruction that started in the mid 20th century. They will see his approach as the only one available at his time in history.
Doesn't mean I like living through it, or that I don't question it at times as I did above.
Fortunately, the North American and European churches are NOT "The Church," but only a part of a much larger whole. Do not judge the universal Church on the abberrations here and in Europe.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.