LAST WEEK the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a new national policy where priests who sexually abuse minors would lose their jobs with the church, but still retain their official title as priests. This new national policy does not go nearly far enough. Anyone convicted of sexual abuse should be removed from the priesthood permanently.
Allowing such men to remain priests weakens the prestige of the Catholic Church, which already has suffered an onslaught of negative publicity. Such an old and revered institution as the Catholic Church shouldn't let itself be torn down by something as trivial as a sex scandal. More importantly, the idea that one could sexually abuse a minor and still retain the title of priest is ludicrous. Phil Saviano, a sexual abuse victim and board member of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests told The New York Times in June 16 article "U.S. Bishops Let Public Opinion Guide Them This Time" that, "'Priest' is a title that has always held a great deal of respect, particularly with kids. By allowing child molesters to keep the title of priest, it is a dangerous precedent." By allowing men who commit these heinous crimes to remain priests, the church fails to take a strong enough stand against sexual abuse.
According to an article in the June 15 Washington Post, "Bishops Pass Compromise on Sexual Abuse Policy," the Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of the Jesuit magazine "America," gave two reasons why the mandatory removal of pedophile priests was not called for. He pointed out that laicization - the formal process of removing a priest - is both lengthy and difficult. Such a provision may have been opposed by the Vatican. He also states that it may be more dangerous for children if abusive priests were kicked out of the priesthood because they could not be monitored as well.
Both of these reasons are poor excuses for the continued inaction of the Catholic Church in the United States to take a zero-tolerance approach not only to priests employed by churches, but to all priests.
The claim that it's too difficult to remove priests basically amounts to the Catholic Church's laziness. While it may in fact be difficult to remove priests, using this as a reason for not doing so trivializes the emotional harm done to child victims of sexual abuse. Many of these children will need to spend valuable time and money in therapy for the rest of their lives. The effort required to remove abusive priests is well-worth their removal.
It is important to note that many American Catholics have been unhappy with the Vatican's response. The Church needs to appease these members if it is to weather this storm - and protect itself as an institution that means more to many than just tabloid headlines.
The idea that it is better for society if the Church monitors priests who have been convicted of sexual crimes, rather than just letting them return to the public is ridiculous. No one can possibly trust certain Catholic bishops in the United States - who have covered up the crimes of priests under them - to monitor these errant priests effectively.
According to the June 16 Washington Post article "Bishops Leave Unfinished Business," "not one of [the bishops who failed to remove sexual predators] tendered his resignation or had the audacity to call on a brother to step down. Instead, the bishops referred the question of their own accountability to an internal committee for six months of study, knowing full well that on Earth, at least, bishops do not answer to anyone but the pope."
The interests of society will certainly be no better off if the same men who went out of their way to protect priests over children are the ones monitoring pedophile priests.
The Catholic Church does have certain beliefs, such as the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation, which led some bishops to speak out against the new policy while it was debated in Dallas. According to The New York Times, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, discussed how priests who are sexual abusers can be forgiven, but cannot be given a second chance to mess up. This is all well and good, but the same priest should not have a second chance at continuing to be a priest.
David Clohessy, the national director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, put it best when he told The Post in the "Bishops Pass Compromise on Sexual Abuse Policy," article, that the bishops "look at these men as priests first and sexual predators last. They've got it backwards."
Until the Catholic Church in the United States goes beyond removing sexual predator priests from church work, and begins actually stripping them of the titles that they abuse, the Church will continue to go against the very values it preaches.
(Harris Freier is a Cavalier Daily columnist. He can be reached at hfreier@cavalierdaily.com.)
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