Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - [Homestead] it ain't much, but it's all they have,

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>
  • To: "Homestead mailing list" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] it ain't much, but it's all they have,
  • Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 10:33:35 -0700

and at that, it's better than some 'follow-up'

that I've been reading about ...



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6188753/<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6188753/>



Archdiocese assailed on abuse



By CLAUDIA ROWE

The Seattle Post Intelligencer

USA, October 6, 2004 - A blunt, 15-page report on sexual abuse within the
Seattle Archdiocese, released yesterday, makes plain that poor record keeping
and a habit of ignoring troubling behavior by clerics was endemic into the
early 1990s and likely contributed to the molestation of dozens of children
by Roman Catholic priests here.

For more than a year, a panel of 10 men and women -- half Catholics, half not
-- pored over church personnel files, investigative paperwork and victims'
testimony. Their charge was to determine whether 13 accused priests were fit
for ministry, but the Case Review Board members, led by retired Superior
Court Judge Terrence Carroll, went further than that.

They urged greater transparency among church officials and far more input
from the laity. They tried to answer the larger question surrounding priests
who molest children: Why?

"It's about a change in attitude and approach," Carroll said of the board's
overall recommendation for the Seattle Archdiocese. "It's about maturing and
coming to grips."

The board made several recommendations, among them: Pursue each priest
accused of abuse, even though 36 of them have left the archdiocese; create a
system for handling personnel files; and pay attention to complaints by
parishioners.

In all these areas, Seattle fell short, panel members found. Yet Carroll
acknowledged that the archdiocese tried to grapple with the problem long
before many others.

"We have no recent allegations, and that's something," he said. "They didn't
do enough, but they did try to take steps and that needs to be commended."

Among the areas singled out for particular criticism were the archdiocese's
personnel files -- often shoddy or incomplete, the board said -- and its
method for handling obviously erratic behavior on the part of priests.

In virtually every case it reviewed, the board found evidence of "autocratic
and narcissistic personality styles, outbursts of anger and mistreatment of
parishioners, alcoholism, financial improprieties, paranoia, extreme
eccentricities and reasonably clear evidence of mental disorders."

With few exceptions, none of the odd conduct was formally addressed, the
report says.

In addition, when victims reported that they had been abused, most were sent
to therapists untrained to assess the truth of their allegations.

"This was profoundly difficult in many ways," Carroll said of the board's
work. "The stories and the suffering that we learned about were in many cases
extremely difficult to hear."

Despite a sometimes contentious process, Archbishop Alex Brunett was pleased
with the board's work, said Greg Magnoni, a spokesman.

"The case review board absolutely met every expectation that the archbishop
had, even influencing him to take steps he might not otherwise have taken,"
Magnoni said.

Specifically, the board insisted that a priest be removed from ministry, even
though his victim was 18 at the time of actual contact, Magnoni said. That
priest remains unidentified pending a final ruling from the Vatican, as do
nine others whose cases have not yet been decided.

Three men -- James McGreal, David Linehan and Patrick McMahon -- have been
removed from ministry, and last week John Cornelius, accused of abusing more
than 20 boys, was defrocked.

Even after a career in criminal justice, Carroll was unprepared for the
effect of such an in-depth examination. "I came in knowing that evil
happens," he said.

"I am coming out of this experience knowing that the Catholic Church is not
immune from the reaches of evil. It is, above all, a human institution."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P-I reporter Claudia Rowe can be reached at 206-448-8320 or
claudiarowe AT seattlepi.com





  • [Homestead] it ain't much, but it's all they have,, Toni Hawryluk, 10/06/2004

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page