Extent of abuse cases staggering, official says [Pilla to release "shocking" numbers]

Cleveland Plain Dealer ^ | 01/20/04 | Joel Rutchick and James F. McCarty

[Akron Al]

Extent of abuse cases staggering, official says 01/20/04Joel Rutchick and James F. McCarty Plain Dealer Reporters 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 © 2004 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission. Copyright 2004 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.

[heyheyhey]

If this isn't a wakeup call to the Cleveland diocese, nothing is.

If this isn't a wakeup call to the NCCB, nothing is.

[Maximilian]

Pilla needs to go for the reasons cited by AkronAl here: But these numbers are grossly inflated.

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.

[Diago]

If you could find a way to get the meltdown in Cleveland some national press, we would be eternally grateful.

[johnb2004]

"That's the forbidden question."

Right you are.When I ask that I am usually told that the Catholic Church is so big one can't expect Rome to know what is happening in every diocese. It does strike one as peculiar that 40 years of dissent can't be dealt with. Then again, I am often told Rome wants to avoid schism.

Well,to me, an average Catholic who believes in obedience and redemptive suffering I find it strange that Rome allows so much error to be spread.

If anyone in any of these dioceses tried to say a Latin mass without permission the swiss guard would be sent in...

[cpforlife.org]

BTTT

For the sake of His Sorrowful Passion, have Mercy on us and on the whole world.

[Diago]

Then Burkhart stammered as he asked McBride a personal question: "So, whenever you had sex . . . were you bound to go to confession and confess it before you said Mass, or . . .?"

"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.

[heyheyhey]

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.

[Coleus]

`

[Desdemona]

I hate to say it, but one must ask, "Where is Rome in the face of corruption of this magnitude?"

Giving the bishops enough rope to hang themselves?

That's an awful thing to say, I know, but as all of this has come out since Bernardin died, and considering how he was adored by so many, the uncovering of the scandal is exposing the errors of the Amchurch types.

It's a painful purge, but better it happen than not.

[pax_et_bonum]

"I hate to say it, but one must ask, "Where is Rome in the face of corruption of this magnitude?"

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.

[Jaded]

Our priest discussed the results from our Diocese yesterday. From the period beginning 1950 through last year there were 46 credible reports. The majority of them happened BEFORE 1980. 3.2 M paid out.

The priest was disgusted that this ever happened. He put it in terms of that the payout could have built and outfitted a new parish. The payout was covered at 50% by insurance and 50% the general fund (read tithes).

[brazucausa]

Thank you for ping.

"You reap what you sow"

If this isn't a wakeup call to the Cleveland diocese, nothing is.


Agree on that.

[AAABEST]

I would like to take the time to thank our protestant brothers and sisters for not using this thread the bash us, although I would almost understand it if they did. This is disgusting.

We'll have to return the favor somehow.

[Diago]

Another Reason why Bishop Pilla Needs to Resign:

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

[johnb2004]

beautiful. now this guys owns the mass.

[NeoCaveman]

Of course none of those things materialized. They did push the orans but very few takers. Standing after communion? Not where I go in Cleveland.

P.S. This is not a defense of Pilla or his GIRM tampering.

[Polycarp IV]

I fear Rome has given up on the U.S. as our bishops have been so disobedient.

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.

[Polycarp IV]

The US bishops have been much more compliant than the bishops in nearly every other country. Look at the German bishops ... The Dutch bishops ... the new Cardinal from Scotland ...

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.

[johnb2004]

They will see his approach as the only one available at his time in history. Why is that?

[saradippity]

I don't know about the recent publicity about the lone remaining good priest. Can you fill me in?