Print Issue: November 21, 2002

Tribunals May Be Used In Addition To Civil, Criminal Law For Sex Abuse Cases

Very Reverend Paul Hachey, SM

By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer

ATLANTA - Archbishop John F. Donoghue, who supports the revised "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" and the revised norms, expects dioceses in the Province of Atlanta will cooperate to establish the needed tribunals for future cases.

Under the norms, the tribunals will be needed to determine canonical penalties in cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests or deacons.

They are separate from and in addition to any criminal or civil cases that may arise in cases of sexual abuse of minors by clergy.

The Province includes the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Dioceses of Savannah, Charleston, S.C., and Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C. Not every diocese has a sufficient number of canon lawyers to staff such a tribunal, and a Province approach creates greater impartiality.

Very Reverend Paul Hachey, SM, judicial vicar of the Province, said a meeting planned for May 2003 will review applicable provisions of the Code of Canon Law for all the canon lawyers, bishops and diocesan administrators in the Province. Diane Barr, J.C.D., a canon and civil lawyer, will address the meeting in Charleston May 12-14.

"The Code is very clear about the process," Father Hachey said, but the penal judicial process has not been used in the Province recently.

There has been no recent experience with cases, Father Hachey said, because when clergy sexual abuse cases involving minors have arisen in the Province, after the bishop permanently removed the priest from ministry, the priest decided voluntarily to pursue laicization. In those cases, the matter is handled in Rome by the pope. Only when a bishop pursues laicization against the wish of the priest is a penal judicial process necessary.

"The bishops already have in canon law the right to say this person is unassignable, but they cannot say this person is no longer a priest without a judicial process," Father Hachey said.

Archbishop Donoghue has invited the bishops of the Province and the diocesan administrator in Charlotte to attend the meeting. Father Hachey has invited every member of the clergy in the Province with a canon law licentiate or doctorate, as well as lay people who hold degrees in canon law and work full time in one of the Marriage Tribunals.

"One of the things that I truly believe has come out of Dallas and from talking to bishops (of the Province) is they want impartiality," Father Hachey said. "It is very important that the survivors feel that this is not the old boys club."

"I really hope that as many canon lawyers within the Province as possible will be available to assist all the dioceses if they need to have a trial." If a case arises in one diocese, it will be judged by canon lawyers from another diocese to increase objectivity and impartiality, he said. "If they are in Charleston, the canon lawyers in Charleston will not address this issue. Survivors and the accused need to know this."

"If a penal judicial process is going to be necessary I would envision people who know the law, who can be objective, to make sure that all sides have been heard," he said.

Laity with degrees in canon law who work full time in diocesan tribunals are Robert Kampine in the Atlanta Archdiocese, Cathy Gilligan, director of the Savannah Tribunal, and Patrick Morris, a canon lawyer in the Raleigh Tribunal.

Barr, who holds a doctorate in canon law and a civil law degree from the University of Idaho Law School, was the director of the Boise Marriage Tribunal.

"She has done a lot of work with both processes. I believe wholeheartedly in bringing in a lay person with that background," Father Hachey said.