Bishop Hopes Effort To Rid Church Of Sex Abuse Spurs Society On Issue

By CNS

Published: August 21, 2003

WASHINGTON (CNS) —The president of the U.S. bishops’ conference has expressed hope that efforts to eliminate child sex abuse in the church will spur other sectors of society to do likewise.

In a speech to the Knights of Columbus, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., said that an “overly protective ‘clerical culture’” may have contributed to the sex abuse crisis, but that this does not taint the clergy in general.

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also supported the hierarchy’s decision to conduct an exhaustive study of the scope of the sex abuse problem over the past 50 years, even if the findings may further harm the church’s image with the general public.

Speaking at an Aug. 5 dinner in Washington during the Knights’ annual meeting, Bishop Gregory asked the largest Catholic fraternal order in the United States “to join with the bishops in a commitment not only to preventing this abuse within the church but also to combating it in society at large.”

“You have stated that you stand with every Catholic family that has been victimized, and so you must. You are husbands, fathers, grandfathers and sons; this sadness no doubt touches you deeply,” he told the 2,500 Knights and their families gathered at the dinner,

“If we achieve our goal of entirely eliminating child sexual abuse from the priesthood, tragically we will have put a stop only to a very small percentage of the abuse that occurs in our society,” he said

“The abuse problem is one that affects every other profession, and sad to admit seems to occur most often in the family,” he said.

Bishop Gregory said a study to determine the “definitive facts and figures about this problem” in the church over the past 50 years is needed.

“Many may well wonder whether the results might not further diminish respect for the priesthood” at a time when “saturation media coverage has made child sexual abuse almost synonymous with the Catholic priesthood,” he said.

But without knowing the scope of the problem the bishops cannot know if their measures are enough, he added.

The bishop said that “an overly protective ‘clerical culture’ may have inadvertently exposed young people to danger.”

But he called the linking of sex abuse with Catholic priests in general “a deep injustice to the priesthood” and praised the Knights for continuing to promote vocations “in this toxic atmosphere.”

A consequence of the crisis has been “that in some places it has driven a bit of a wedge between bishops and priests,” he said.

“The legal pursuits into these events that, in truth involve only a few, have negatively impacted the legitimate and ancient bonds between priests and bishops,” he said.

These bonds must be repaired as bishops and priests have to work together to erase sex abuse in the church, he said.

“This is a task that should unite bishops and priests; and, as we move beyond the shock and dismay of the past year and a half, I have every confidence that it will,” the bishop said.

He noted that much has been done to correct the child abuse problem and said he was confident that the current audit of dioceses will show that they are implementing the policies outlined in the bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

Bishop Gregory said that forgiveness and reconciliation are key to overcoming the crisis in the church.

“I can fully understand, in the case of the victims, why they are concerned that premature calls for reconciliation do not cut short their search for justice to help heal the damage done to them personally,” he said.

“But even in this matter, we are not faithful to ourselves as church, if we do not have as our ultimate goal, whenever it can be accomplished, forgiveness, healing and reconciliation,” he said.

The Knights have 1.6 million members worldwide, mostly in the United States.

At the end of the Aug. 5-7 meeting, the Knights passed a resolution supporting President Bush’s opposition to legal recognition of same-sex marriages.

Another resolution condemned any efforts to block the confirmation of anti-abortion nominees for federal judgeships “because of ‘deeply held beliefs’ consistent with their Catholic faith.”

In an Aug. 7 talk, U.S. Archbishop John P. Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, thanked the Knights for their financial support for the international telecasts of papal ceremonies at Christmas, Holy Week and Easter.

“They are the most widely carried religious television programs in the world,” and have brought these events to billions of people, said the archbishop.

He also praised the Knights for contributing to the costs of the upcoming ceremonies to mark the Oct. 19 beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the 25th anniversary of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II.

During the meeting, the Ralph and Virginia Trotter family of Casper, Wyo., was named the Knights’ International Family of the Year from among 70 families. From 1995 to 2003, the Trotters were coordinators of the Wyoming Knights’ pro-life programs, which included an annual fund-raising campaign for local crisis pregnancy centers. Both are precinct chairs in the Republican Party.