Ave Maria and Francis

Hello, readers.  For those of you who keep up on Catholic news, you are no doubt aware of what's been going on with the McCarrick affair followed by the Pennsylvania grand jury report and then the Vigano memorandum and the fallout from each.  There are plenty of Catholic news sites and blogs that are following things with daily updates.  Aside from the Daily Readings in the sidebar, I would like to recommend Rod Dreher at The American Conservative.  He has been on top of things and I have been following him every day.

On August 29, in support of Pope Francis, the president of Ave Maria University James Towey issued a statement that has since been edited to remove its gratuitous comments. (Edited statement, 8/30 clarification.)  This CNA article has excerpts from the original version of the statement, which gives a taste of what was removed, specifically comments directed at Archbishop Vigano's motives and at Cardinal Burke for the dubia.  (Here is a comment that has the original version of the statement.)

Those since-removed comments had provoked a strong backlash.  One example is from the combox at a piece at One Peter Five:

Can you believe it?
This gentleman is drinking the same juice as Wuerl, McCarrick, Cupich, Maradiaga and Tobin – to cite only a few representatives of the core of corruption. His statement is not only erroneous in its essence, but
pejorative and would appear libelous.
Towey served as an assistant to George W. Bush (2002-2006) and as
Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. Dig deep into
that and you find the pragmatist.
As President of St. Vincent’s College, Latrobe – Rembert Weakland’s
home monastic community.
And he is a Knight of Columbus – financial sponsors of “Crux.”
You don’t have to scratch too far to find what is operative with this character. He likes his security blanket.
How did Ave Maria’s search committee determine this one a match?
Another one bites the dust..

I replied with the following:

Don't be confused by the fact that AMU has had this facade of "traditional" all this time and is suddenly breaking away. Ave Maria has always been a brand that Tom Monaghan knew he could sell to Catholics if it looked good and holy. But underneath the surface, there's always been some form of scandal, from how he got AMU from MI to FL to the medical complex they tried to build next to the university funded by a major stem cell researching company.

The reply back:

Believe me, I am confused no longer. This was a bitter eye opener.

My comment wasn't very charitable towards AMU.  I have mentioned the past of AM before in comboxes when the university or the law school have been brought up and alumni have replied, saying that things have changed since Mr. Monaghan's involvement has decreased.  Taking those people at face value and reading Mr. Towey's clarification, it puts Ave Maria in the mainstream of Neo-Catholicism with its strict adherence to the ultramontanist position: fidelity to Rome above all else.  Obviously, Roman Catholics are in communion with Rome, but in the wake of the Council, it has become "Rome, right or wrong," even when the wrong seems to be the enabling of heresy and sexual depravity.

People smarter than I am are wrestling with this question.

Movie Review: Doubt (2008)

On Friday I watched most of the film Doubt from 2008.  I missed the last twenty minutes or so because I had to leave for 5:30 Mass, but I checked out the ending at Wikipedia.  The film stars Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn, Amy Adams as Sister James, and Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller.  The basic plot: in 1964, a black boy, Donald Miller, attends a Bronx parochial school where the student body is exclusively Irish and Italian (i.e. white).  Donald is taken under the wing of Father Flynn who is determined to help the boy survive.  However, doubt is cast on Father Flynn's motives in the minds of Sister Aloysius, the school principal, and Sister James, Donald's teacher.

All four of the lead actors are convincing in their roles.  I am always impressed with how Philip Seymour Hoffman has morphed from the weak George in Scent of a Woman and the manic Dusty in Twister to his mature roles in the last decade.  I never saw that coming.  Meryl Streep is always fine in her roles, though I admit I am not completely enamored with her like so many others.  Amy Adams as young Sister James and Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller, the mother of the boy, both did fine in their supporting roles.  The children who acted in the film were very believable.  I have no firsthand experience of teaching sisters and priests; I have read that some felt that Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman were not entirely convincing in their roles.  But I thought they did fine in that regard.

I enjoyed the location shooting.  The use of schools that evoked that time period really gave the film heft.  When certain films are trying to create an atmosphere, I think shooting in the autumn does a lot to help that effort and it shows in Doubt.  As events proceed in the film and the tension builds, several scenes involve the tilting of the camera so that the frame is not level.  This only adds to the tension, especially in the scenes with Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn.

Doubt came out about three years ago, so I am not going to hold back on the plot here.  If you haven't seen it and have read this far and don't want spoilers, don't read on.

The film is about suspicion and doubt on many levels.  Most obviously, Sister Aloysius suspects Father Flynn of abusing the black boy Donald Miller.  Sister sees things and has things reported to her by the young and naive Sister James that leads her to suspect, but she has no proof and Father Flynn when confronted adamantly denies any wrongdoing.  In the past when such issues came up, Sister Aloysius went through back channels to allies in the priesthood who handled the issue quietly, but in the case of Father Flynn, she has no one to whom she can turn with her suspicion.  In the end Father Flynn resigns and is reassigned; nothing is resolved.

On a deeper level, the movie examines the tide of change within the Church in 1964.  Vatican II is underway and Father Flynn and his attitudes represent that change to a kinder, friendlier Church.  Sister Aloysius represents the old ways that are now in doubt.  I wonder if the writer/director John Patrick Shanley realized the irony of Sister Aloysius when he was writing her given that she is determined to instill in her students and the sister-teachers under her the sense of hierarchy that she herself fights in dealing with Father Flynn.  Even the arrival of a black family in an Irish and Italian neighborhood foretells the upheavals that are to come with urban renewal and white flight to the suburbs.

Is the film anti-Catholic?  I wouldn't say so, no.  It certainly relies upon the Catholic milieu of the time and place in which it is set to tell its story and I can't fault it for that.  It tells a story well, its characters are not caricatures as far as I could tell.  I'll give it four out of five stars.

For My Own Reference

“Priestly abuse of children is nowadays taken to mean sexual abuse, and I feel obliged, at the outset, to get the whole matter of sexual abuse into proportion and out of the way. Others have noted that we live in a time of hysteria about paedophilia, a mob psychology that calls to mind the Salem witch-hunts of 1692… All three of the boarding schools I attended employed teachers whose affections for small boys overstepped the bounds of propriety. That was indeed reprehensible. Nevertheless, if, fifty years on, they had been hounded by vigilantes or lawyers as no better than child murderers, I should have felt obliged to come to their defence, even as the victim of one of them (an embarrassing but otherwise harmless experience).

The Roman Catholic Church has borne a heavy share of such retrospective opprobrium. For all sorts of reasons I dislike the Roman Catholic Church. But I dislike unfairness even more, and I can’t help wondering whether this one institution has been unfairly demonized over the issue, especially in Ireland and America… We should be aware of the remarkable power of the mind to concoct false memories, especially when abetted by unscrupulous therapists and mercenary lawyers. The psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has shown great courage, in the face of spiteful vested interests, in demonstrating how easy it is for people to concoct memories that are entirely false but which seem, to the victim, every bit as real as true memories. This is so counter-intuitive that juries are easily swayed by sincere but false testimony from witnesses.”

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, pp. 315-16

Sexual Abuse

This list of links is mostly for my own reference. Dig in if you want to read about the inaccuracies of the story printed by the NYT.

The NYT piece on Father Murphy

Father Z's initial post

Father Brundage, presiding judge in Milwaukee at the time

Archbishop Dolan - NY


Cardinal Levada - CDF (also mentions the Munich case)

A nice summary up to now

Magister has something on the remarks of the Holy Father to the Irish bishops and the growing efforts of the Holy See in cracking down on priest who abused minors.

Ratzinger as well, when he was prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, was less insistent than he is today. Offenses against the sixth commandment were the exclusive domain of his congregation, but in a number of cases, even very circumstantiated denunciations were never pursued. Still in November of 2002, when the scandal in the United States was at its acme, Ratzinger minimized the number of guilty priests: “less than 1 percent,” and he attributed the explosion of the scandal above all to “the desire to discredit the Church.”

But then he changed course. It was the autumn of 2004, and Ratzinger ordered the promoter of justice at the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, Charles J. Scicluna of Malta, to retrieve from the files all the cases concerning the sixth commandment.

The order was: “Every case must take its normal course.” In other words: no one could be held as untouchable anymore, not even those protected by the then extremely powerful cardinal Sodano, and not even the favorites of the reigning pope, John Paul II.

So it goes

Jury: Diocese must pay victim $1.5 million

By Dustin Lemmon | Monday, September 18, 2006 | (7) Comments | Rate this article

BREAKING NEWS: (4:43 p.m.) A Scott County jury has awarded Michl Uhde $1.5 million in damages from the Diocese of Davenport for sexual abuse he suffered more than 40 years ago.

The jury deliberated for six hours Monday before returning its verdict around 3 p.m. The $1,536,800 covers future medical expenses, lost wages, lost function of the mind, and pain and suffering.

The amount doubled the $744,000 that Uhde and his attorneys had asked for. The diocese had said it was going to court because it couldn’t afford to settle any more cases regarding alleged sexual abuse by its priests.

The trial in Scott County District Court started Sept. 11 and ended with closing arguments Friday afternoon. Jurors heard testimony from Uhde, who recounted abuse by Monsignor Thomas Feeney that occurred from 1957 to 1963, starting when he was 7.

After the verdict Uhde said the case was never about the money but getting answers from the diocese.

“This is about the victims,” he said. “I feel better. Hopefully, we’ll get some help for other people.”

Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com

The Bishop going into the trial wrote this in the Messenger and then had this to say today after the verdict.

As His Excellency stated in the first letter, the point of going to trial was that the diocese had no money to pay out. The second letter outlines what is next, i.e. belt-tightening on a massive scale and serious consideration on filing for bankruptcy.

And this is only the first trial. As the first letter explained, there is another one in the offing... For a diocese that is largely rural outside of the Quad Cities and Iowa City, this is going to be very tough for everyone.

A few things this evening

A UK couple named their baby after the Holy Father.

Kevin and Amanda Lonergan, whose son was born on Easter Sunday, called him Benedict after Pope Benedict XVI.

Kevin, who works for Lancashire-based charity, Galloway's Society for the Blind, wrote to the Vatican about the role of Catholicism in his work and explained that his new baby son was named after the Pope. To mum and dad's surprise, the Pope, with whom baby Benedict shares a birthday, wrote back.

"The letter says the Holy Family is pleased to learn of the arrival of baby Benedict and assured us of his prayers," Kevin told the Lancashire Evening Post.

That's a nice idea, I agree. My one thought is that since Benedict was born on the feast of St. Joseph and was himself named Joseph, why didn't they just name their kid Joseph?

According to a website, The Los Angeles Times has nothing better to do than document clerical abuse cases all around the nation.

In the front section of today's Los Angeles Times (Tuesday, September 5, 2006) is an article, "Sex Charges Shadow a Local Curiosity in Texas: Five monks at the Christ of the Hills Monastery are accused of abusing boys. Police also say the church's famous crying icon was 'a scam'" by Times staffer Lianne Hart. The piece is accompanied by three color photos and a small map of Texas (to illustrate the location of the story, Blanco, Texas (population 1505)).
[...]

"Christ of the Hills," "Monastery," "Father," "urban mission," "monks," "Virgin Mary" ... Another example of abuse in the Catholic Church, right? At first glance, it would appear so. But it isn't. Buried more than halfway through the article is the fact that the monastery was affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and they cut ties with the monks seven years ago. Why are these facts practically hidden in the article? Deception, anyone?

If that wasn't so pathetic, it would almost be funny. The entire piece has lots of quotes from other LA Times articles and lots of links.

Celibacy is not the issue

Stoning the Catholic Church for Child Abuse Anyone?
Opinion Editorials.com

Kevin Roeten

If you’re convinced that the Catholic Church is THE player in child pedophilia, it’s time to get an informational overhaul. ‘AP’(2/4) “Chicago priest abuse scandal raises doubts about reforms”, unearthed deeply embedded feelings that need to be changed.

It charges new doubts about Catholic bishops to eliminate cleric abuse. Let’s make it crystal clear--anyone, including a Catholic priest, should be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law for the heinous crime of molestation.
[...]

[Kevin Roeten paraphrases the surveyor Jenkins] Literally, every religion has its share of abuse cases, and some of the worst involve ‘non-Catholics’. Yet Catholics continue to be the ‘whipping boy’ of most media. Every mainline Protestant denomination has had numerous scandals, as have Pentecostals, Mormons, Jews, etc., etc… One Canadian Anglican diocese is on the verge of bankruptcy resulting from numerous lawsuits from years of systematic abuse, yet the ‘Episcopal’ Church does not demand celibacy of its clerics.

In 1994, an Ad Hoc Committee issued guidelines for the nation’s 191 Catholic dioceses to develop policies against sexual abuse of minors. As a Religious Education teacher, I have been part of special projects eliminating child abuse, have a female partner in class continuously, and have had background checks for any possible past incidents. Our pastor was checked the same way.

Why has justified anger over a few appalling cases been turned into ill-focused attacks on innocent clergy by the media? Despite discrimination, hate, and prosecution the Catholic Church was around in 33 AD, and will be around in the ‘end’. Anyone wonder why?

The removed portion is the analysis of the survey by Philip Jenkins of the priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Jenkins' own explanation of the survey offers more details.

My research of cases over the past 20 years indicates no evidence whatever that Catholic or other celibate clergy are any more likely to be involved in misconduct or abuse than clergy of any other denomination -- or indeed, than nonclergy. However determined news media may be to see this affair as a crisis of celibacy, the charge is just unsupported.

Professor Jenkins is the Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State. His work includes "Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis", which was published by Oxford University Press in 1996.

This is hilarious, so why are we not laughing?

Lord God, we pray that your servants on earth display better sense than to employ Michael Jackson in this climate of sexual abuse controversy... Too late.

ROME (Reuters) - Pop star Michael Jackson could sing some of the prayers written by the late Pope John Paul, the head of the music company coordinating the project said on Monday.

Father Giuseppe Moscati of the Edizioni Musicali Terzo Millennio, which specializes in church music and organizes musical events at the Vatican, said his company had the rights to 24 of Pope John Paul's prayers and wanted to put together a group of international artists to set them to music.

"We have been contacted by people close to Michael Jackson who have expressed interest and we are thinking about it," Moscati said.

He dismissed the recent controversy surrounding Jackson, who is living in Bahrain after a Californian court acquitted him of child molestation charges last June.

"He has been cleared of all charges," Moscati said.

"As a celebrity he is perhaps a bit remote from the teachings contained in the Pope's prayers. But if he can help us put together a group of singers that fulfil the criteria of the project then we'll study the proposal," he said.
[...]

Read the complete article Michael Jackson may sing late Pope's prayers from Reuters.

Vatican deputy spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini said the Vatican was not involved in the initiative.

Thank God!

Iowa's corner of the sex abuse crisis

The Vatican has defrocked a retired Iowa priest accused of sexually assaulting several Waterloo Columbus High School boys in the 1960s and '70s.

Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus on Thursday announced that Pope Benedict XVI had removed William Schwartz from the clergy in November, and the process was finished in December.

Schwartz, 73, who is believed to be living in Arizona, is the second Iowa priest to be defrocked in the sex abuse scandal that has swept the U.S. Roman Catholic Church since 2000.
[...]

Read the complete article Vatican defrocks retired Dubuque priest from DesMoinesRegister.com.

This piece from Sioux City's paper has a more general look at the report and everyone included in it.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque said in a report that 20 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of children have been filed in recent months involving eight priests.

The annual report, dated Jan. 4, summarizes activities involving allegations of abuse in the past year and names the priests.

Lawsuits have been filed in recent months against the archdiocese in connection with the Revs. Albert Carman, Albert Forster, William Goltz, Patrick McElliott, John Peters, William Roach, John Schmitz and William Schwartz, the report said.

Read the complete article Dubuque Archdiocese releases report on clergy abuse from The Sioux City Journal.

One article I read awhile ago in the Davenport Diocese's paper was about a priest who had been removed from active ministry and had relocated to St. Louis. The diocese dispatched a deacon to go find him down there and check up.

A reader's comments

December 9, 2005

JAMES CARROLL feels wronged by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church (''Basilica of Denial," op ed, Dec. 5). Like many Catholics, I, too, have been overwhelmed by the brutal fact that many bishops felt that protecting themselves and predator priests was more important than protecting children. Yet I disagree with Carroll's assessment that the Vatican's instruction barring certain men with homosexual tendencies from the priesthood indicates that the church ''has no real interest in reckoning with the priest abuse catastrophe."

The truth is that this document was produced to address the problem of homosexuality in seminaries and has been 10 years in the making. The document was never intended to be a ''priest abuse problem" solution. By highlighting the sins of so many Catholics throughout the ages, Carroll does nothing more than stamp his feet at a situation he cannot change.

Apparently Carroll's answer to the problem includes ordaining women and repealing the church's teaching on the meaning of sex. His problem is not with the church but with the author of the teachings with which he finds himself at odds. Carroll's problem is with Jesus Christ.

MICHAEL COLLINS, Quincy

The letter is from The Boston Globe. It's nice to see that despite all that has gone on up in Boston with the Sex Abuse Crisis and the school-closing debacle, Catholics still take the time to strongly and lucidly defend their faith.

Other news this Thursday

I have a dentist appointment later this morning, so I'll make this brief. Hopefully they won't find anything too terrible in there. Wish me luck and say a prayer.

Marci Hamilton at FindLaw.com discusses here a list of actions that need to happen before the Church will truly have the sex abuse crisis behind it. It's basically a reiteration of what SNAP has been saying for a long time.

Ireland Online has a little blurb on Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern's reaction to accusations that he is a pawn of the Church as Ireland continues to struggle through it's own sex abuse crisis.

In other news
Bob Woodward went and got himself ensnared in the Valerie Plame thing. A senior administration official dropped the name on Woodward earlier this year during a casual conversation and now here is Bob facing the fire.

My own take on the whole Namegate/Spygate/whatevergate is that while the name dropping is illegal, those who claim that it's some kind of payback against Ambassador Wilson for his trip to Niger and what he supposedly learned there need to realize that Wilson didn't learn much of anything there. Scooter is going to get a plea bargain (if he gets worse than Sandy Berger, that will be unfair), everyone will still think Bush 'lied' to the nation and the Republican Party, despite controlling the House, the Senate and the White House, will still be in disarray.

[/rant]

The Irish Church and the Irish Republic

Nonetheless, it must also be acknowledged that the vast majority of priests and nuns are above question. Moreover, the Church has wielded a highly positive influence on this country’s social and educational development.

But modern Ireland is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Our many-layered society is multi-ethnic and multi-religious. Increasingly, parents are demanding greater choice in the education of their children.
[...]

It goes without saying that the debate sparked by Ms O’Donnell ranges far beyond the controversy currently engulfing the Church over the appalling sexual abuse of children by priests.

Arguably, given the rapid transformation of Irish society, an educational regime that puts 98% of primary schools under the managerial control of one Church is no longer feasible or desirable.

Amid mounting clamour for a radical overhaul of the Church’s involvement in the realm of primary education, a dispassionate and in-depth review of its role and of its special relationship with the State is not only warranted but long overdue.

Read the complete article Church and State - Review of clerical role is long overdue from Irish Examiner.com.

From the points made in the article, it would seem that the Catholic Church running the primary schools of Ireland is a bit outdated. It's just too bad that the debate of the role of the Church in education has to come about due to sex abuse reports and a backlash against the Church.

As the article noted, Ireland is becoming more and more multi-ethnic. Yet unlike other areas of Europe, this multi-ethnic society has come about due to a rapidly growing economy and not enough trained Irish to fill positions. This was also the case forty years ago, when guest workers were invited to come work. Such places tend to not be so stable socially when the economy slows down.

In bookstores, one often sees a title along the lines of 'how the Irish saved the West'. Perhaps they can do so again by being a model of how the Catholic Church can integrate society through education and a shared morality held by all citizens (even if they're not Catholic). The Catholic schools will have to prove their worth by providing quality education for the 21st century.

Comments on THE REPORT

In Rocco's latest post, he discusses the meeting Cardinal Rigali had yesterday with his priests. The clergy of Philadelphia were quite hostile. Read the entry for details and then check out this quote at the end after Rocco makes a rather interesting analogy between 'sweeping changes in the Church in the 60s' and the sex abuse scandal:

"You have the choice of staying and obeying, or leaving," Krol said. "Non datur tertium" -- "There is no third choice."

With those words, as practically every other See succumbed to the excesses of the Conciliar wave, John Krol drew his line and beat back the tide in his archdiocese.

Given these recent events and the newfound openness of the priests, is it safe to say that the tide averted for so long is back with a vengeance?

Sorry, but the tide Krol was averting back in 1964 is NOT the same tide that may be sweeping Philadelpha today. Comparing the zealousness of the Conciliar wave to indignation over the response of the archbishop's response to the grand jury report is just...

As the Inquirer quotes, a fourth priest told the cardinal it was "the wrong time to defend the indefensible."

That's not a wave of dissent, that's just plain common sense.

The Register proves its worth

There are times when I hate The Des Moines Register. But it does have David Yepsen, who is always good. He and Mike Glover are /the/ guys on the archaic political world of Iowa, where all future presidents are vetted like nowhere else, not even Philly (sorry Rocco).

From the Register:

Catholic priests are emerging from dark days of the child sexual abuse scandal with a new sense of hope and accomplishment, according to a new survey that will be published before the end of the year.

The survey mirrors the sentiments expressed by three veteran priests of the Des Moines Catholic diocese, who spoke to the Des Moines Sunday Register about what it has been like to be a priest during the scandal.

The priests talked about feeling anger and betrayal toward abusive priests. They also were fearful that under the U.S. bishops' new zero-tolerance policy, they might be unjustly accused and removed from the priesthood. However, all said they have been buoyed by the support of their parishioners.

Read the complete article Ragsdale: Priest morale rebounds from DesMoinesRegister.com.

Yesterday's article is on the morale of the priesthood, with extensive quotes from Des Moines-area priests. I'm not all that familiar with the Des Moines diocese, hailing myself from Sioux City and having spent much time in Davenport.

The following caught my eye in particular:

"We were talking last week that there isn't a priest shortage, that we are moving out of a surplus," Siepker said. "Catholics got spoiled in the U.S. Most parishes had its own priest, and some had several. There were three or four Masses on the weekends. Now, outside of Des Moines and Council Bluffs, almost every parish is paired. We are more like the pioneer priests, traveling from parish to parish."

Hess likes being a parish priest, but, at 60, he's feeling "spread thinner."

"I'm not as young and vigorous as I used to be," Hess said. "There never seems to be enough time to pray and reflect so you can do a good job. We're pulled in all kinds of different directions."

The greatest gift today's priests said they could receive from their congregations would be to be relieved of parish administrative tasks, according to the survey.

As far as Iowa goes, I would agree with that assessment. All over the state, parishes are not closing to the degree as they are in other places, but they are being grouped together. In my hometown of Fort Dodge, the three parishes along with several others from surrounding smaller towns are grouped together in a 'Team Ministry' format. This is good in some ways and bad in others, given the fact that last year, due to scheduling mishaps, at one parish everyone showed up for Christmas Mass except the priest.

Larger cities can close down parishes and have the people drive a few extra blocks to the next parish. In Iowa, closing a parish entails driving 30 miles or more to the next town. Solutions are worked out, but as the surplus passes, more and more will have to be done.

Waiving diplomatic immunity

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Archbishop William Levada agreed Wednesday to waive diplomatic immunity and answer questions about sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests after he takes over as the church's guardian on doctrine _ the Vatican post formerly held by Pope Benedict XVI.
[...]

Read the complete article Levada to Answer Questions on Priest Abuse from The Washington Post.
The deposition had been held up by the immunity issue and is now scheduled for January.

[...]
Abuse victims' attorneys want to question Levada as part of the bankruptcy case of the Archdiocese of Portland. Last year, Portland became the first Catholic diocese in the nation to declare bankruptcy, citing sex abuse lawsuits seeking more than $155 million in damages.

Levada led the Portland Archdiocese from 1986 to 1995, when he became the archbishop of San Francisco.
[...]

Nothing earth-shattering. I just found it interesting that they were being held up over immunity, though that isn't all that surprising, given the case of that one guy who never stepped out of the Vatican City in order to avoid arrest by the Italian cops and extradition back to the US.

The CDF in action

A recent decree by a Vatican congregation removing the well-known founder of a religious order from active ministry could indicate how Pope Benedict XVI will handle the sexual abuse crisis.

The action also may provide some hint of how the Vatican could handle other high profile cases of a similar nature, including one involving the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, a worldwide religious order.
[...]
The case has significance for at least three reasons: it's the first such decree under Levada and the new pope; Burresi is a widely known mystic and Fatima devotee sometimes compared by his followers, including groups in the United States and Canada, to the Capuchin mystic and saint Padre Pio; and finally, because it involves action against a widely known founder of a religious community on the basis of decades-old accusations.

This last point, observers say, could potentially have implications for how the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith eventually handles similar cases, such as charges of sexual abuse against Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ. Maciel has been accused by a number of former seminarians of sexual abuse. His case is reportedly under investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
[...]

Read the complete article CDF acts against a religious founder from The Word From Rome.

As John Allen points out, this move against Father Gino Burresi could serve as the prototype for such a move in the case of Father Maciel, founder and former head of the Legionaries of Christ. Despite the confusion created by certain announcements earlier this summer regarding the case of Father Maciel, it would seem according to Allen that the investigation still exists.

A report cited by Allen that was written by a commission of cardinals is instructive not only in Burresi's case, but also in light of recent events surrounding the CDF's investigation of Maciel. (See this entry and others subsequent for the story on Maciel's investigation that came about in late May and into June.)

In its conclusion, the report urged the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to take administrative action against Burresi despite the statute of limitations. One concern, the report suggested, was that if no action resulted, Burresi's followers would interpret the investigation as evidence of unfair hostility against him.

"It should not be forgotten that during this process some persons said that the accused 'would come out of it triumphant, more esteemed than ever, and thus without any shadow, indeed more glorious than before,' " the judges wrote.

"[They said] 'that the Secretariat of State defends Fr. Gino, thus victory is assured.' If no new limitation is applied to his ministerial liberty simply due to the fact that the proven offenses have been prescribed [by the statute of limitations], probably the sentence of this court will be used as an instrument of propaganda in favor of the accused. He will be able to continue to do harm to those psychologically weak persons who place themselves under his spiritual direction."

Allen points out just who that reference to the Secretariat of State could be referring to, but it is merely his speculation. But in any case, it is interesting that once again, State is seen as a 'protector' of someone who was under investigation by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

Memorial erected

From July 6th:

DAVENPORT, Iowa (CNS) -- In an effort to promote healing, the Diocese of Davenport has dedicated a monument to victims of clergy sexual abuse.

About 50 people, including abuse victims, gathered around the modest monument, called the Millstone Marker, outside diocesan headquarters June 20 for a solemn dedication ceremony of prayers, Scripture readings, songs, blessings and bagpipe music.
[...]

Read the complete article Davenport Diocese erects monument to abuse victims from Catholic News Service.

The Diocese of Davenport is of course my diocese at the moment. I should drive over and check out the monument. It's interesting how some victims were satisfied and others weren't. I do think that most of the priests being on a golf outing is kind of tacky. Personally, I'd suggest that they put up a statue next of a priest and a layman or woman walking together as a symbol of all the hard work and memorial to all the good people who've made the diocese what it is today.

Something closer to home

A man who attended Regina High School in the 1960s has accused the school's former principal of sexual abuse, according to a lawsuit filed late Tuesday in Scott County District Court.

The 55-year-old man, who now lives in Florida, is seeking unspecified damages from Regina, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport and Bishop Lawrence Soens, who served as Regina's principal from 1958 to 1967. Soens became bishop of the Sioux City Diocese in 1983. He retired in 1998 and currently lives in an independent living apartment in Sioux City.

The man, who was younger than 18 at the time, alleges that beginning in 1963, Soens would sometimes call him to his office under "a false pretext of investigation and discipline to engage in sexual contact...
[...]

Read the complete article Ex-principal named in sex abuse suit from the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

The Sioux City Journal has a more in-depth story here

I was confirmed by Bishop Soens in the mid-90s. Given his tenure starting in 1983, his name was ever-present in Mass for as long as I can remember: "with John Paul our Pope, Lawrence our bishop and all the clergy who have done your will throughout the ages".

NCR editorial on Maciel

EDITORIAL: Maciel scandal won't go away

[...]
If Vatican officials believe that Maciel is innocent, justice demands that they say so, especially given the way these charges have enjoyed wide international circulation. If they believe the evidence is inconclusive, that too should be said, so that at least the parties will know where they stand. If officials have prudential reasons for not moving against Maciel, the accusers have a right to know that this inaction does not presume a judgment about the veracity of their accounts.

Moreover, it’s not just the rights of Maciel and his accusers that are at stake. The broader Catholic public has justifiable concerns about the pattern of official response to the sexual abuse crisis, and a laconic statement that the church does not intend to move against an accused priest, with no explanation offered, will do little to assuage those concerns. On the contrary, it will deepen the cynicism and resentment that is already too pervasive in the Catholic community.

For pastoral reasons, therefore, as well as due process of law, the Vatican needs to offer an explanation.

Pope Benedict XVI’s motto as the archbishop of Munich was cooperators veritatis, “coworkers of the truth.” He has challenged Western culture to recover its confidence in objective truth, over against a lazy relativism. All the more reason, therefore, for the church to practice what its leader preaches -- it needs to tell the truth, and the whole truth, about the Maciel case.

Read the complete article from National Catholic Reporter.

I agree with the National Catholic Reporter. Whatever the actual circumstances are, once a reputation is diminished, it's very hard to rehabilitate it. The longer the Vatican goes on in this manner on such a high-profile case, the more it just gets trashed in the media for its white-washing. Maybe stating that there isn't enough evidence would simply lead to more charges, but when even people who are fair-minded are wondering what's up, it's time to come clean.