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Religious Life Without Integrity
The Sexual Abuse Crisis
in the Catholic Church
By Barry M Coldrey
4: THE INVESTIGATOR,
THE WHISTLEBLOWER,
AND THE BUSYBODY
The author was an investigator for some years
on sexual abuse matters for a section of the Catholic church. The key
point which separates an investigator from a whistle-blower is that
the investigator is appointed by relevant authority to explore the
contentious matters and make an official report.
This may be so obvious that it is superfluous
to make the point. However, the role of the whistleblower may be not so
clear and needs to be separated from that of the mere busybody.
The whistleblower and the busybody share
one feature in common; no one appointed them to reveal wrongdoing by another
person or persons; they acted on their own initiative.
However, in my view, the whistle blower is
normally an honourable and sensible person, and the busybody is a social
pest. What, therefore, is the difference ?
The whistle-blower will often make just
one intervention in a life time and the matter on which s/he acts
is serious and would be viewed as serious by most people. The whistle
blower assembles evidence in an ordered way, assigning weight to different
kinds of evidence; thinks over the matter for some time; if a Christian
(say) prays about the matter. The whistleblower often advises authority
privately of his concerns and gives authority a chance to respond. Only
after there is clearly not going to be a response, the whistleblower acts,
publicly, decisively and often successfully. The bad conduct is exposed,
condemned and dealt with. Father Morrie Crocker, who exposed, priestly
paedophile dealings in the Wollongong diocese, 1994, was a whistleblower
- and he paid the price whistleblowers commonly face.
A busybody in sterotype female interferes
repeatedly and often in matters of which s/he knows little. The issues
are often trivial, the evidence is simply gossip, the busybody is often
mistaken; the result is often confusion. Little good is achieved; nothing
decisive - merely a bad taste all around - except in the mouth of the
busybody.
Abuse is a symptom of power, but power is
rarely made accountable until it is on the wane. By definition, power
is accountable only to itself, and so it is the whistle-blower rather
than the abuser who tends to get punished. This is why whistle-blowers
who report what happened to them as children can, in the 1980s, be dismissed,
and ten years later, when the church is in decline, be met with gasps
of horror on relating the same experiences. (Waters, J, 'Past abuse evident
to all with eyes to see', The Irish Times, 18 May 1999)
The secret world of sexual activity, including
sexual activity with minors, was known by the Catholic hierarchy, and
though considered unfortunate and morally wrong, was accepted as an inevitable
and easily forgiveable failure of some priests. The atmosphere of crisis
did not develop until years later ... victims of abuse were silent and
isolated. The primary objective of the Catholic hierarchy was avoiding
scandal. Sipe, A W R, Preliminary expert report)
Frang Jagerstatter, Austrian conscientious
objector, executed by the Gestapo, 9 August 1943: 'It is best that I speak
the truth, even if it costs me my life.' Franz Jagerstatter was a Catholic
farmer and a family man who gave up his life rather than take the military
oath and so participate in an unjust war. In spite of pressure place on
him by ecclesiastical authorities, he argued that Germany ruled by the
National Socialist Party was a criminal state and that to fight for it
would have been to collude in its criminality.
Hostility
to the Investigator
'At one level, the Roman Catholic church
is a multi-national corporation and the level of its self-interest is
at times shocking.' (Ledrew, R. 'The Horror of Mount Cashel', Atlantic
Provinces Book Review, Vol.18. No.2. June 1991, p. 19)
'Three members of the Australian Bishops
Committee for Professional Standards accused church leaders of hiding
behind Christian values. Sr Angela Ryan reported efforts in some churches
to close ranks to shield and protect perpetrators...Bishop Robinson said
the committee had encountered tensions within the church during its work.'
Glascott, K. 'Church hid sex abuse: Catholic clergy', The Australian,
15 April 1996, p.5.
'Father Morrie Crocker...blew the whistle
on his fellow clergymen who molested children...the church (in Wollongong,
NSW) ostracised the priest when he went public...the church treated him
like a leper, preferring to sing the praises of the accused, the convicted
and the jailed rather than applaud the courage of the priest who cut the
paedophile clergy off at the knees.' ('Fighting
priest loses the last round', The Missing Link, Vol.
6. No. 3, Summer-Fall, 1998, p. 9)
'Father Mark O'Keefe is in cloud cuckoo land
if he believes that Father Crocker was not ostracised. Was there not a
certain Christmas get-together which Father Crocker attended ? My information
is that he was even cold-shouldered at that event.' (Cullen, P. 'Unanderra
priest upset parishioners', Illawarra Mercury, 4 April
1998, p.4)
'A former social worker at Edmund Rice College-managed
youth refuge, Eddy's Place, yesterday said he had been pressured to resign
after reporting alleged sexual abuse and harassment at the refuge. It
became hell after I made the Eddy's Place abuse claims. They made life
bloody hard. I was backstabbed; my name was mud with all the people I
had to deal with. My pay cheques failed to turn up on time. It got to
the point where I resigned.' (Martin, B. 'Social worker forced to quit',
Illawarra Mercury, 31 October 1994, p.4)
(Sgt. Denis Ryan) 'I was first contacted
about Monsignor Day (Mildura, Victoria) by the vice-principal of St. Joseph's
College. Two young girls had gone to the vice-principal where they alleged
Mgr. Day had molested them...large numbers of young boys had been sexually
assaulted. Sgt. Denis Ryan (now 67) says that:'I was instructed by some
of my superiors to cease investigation, later transferred to Melbourne.
I was given strict instructions not to make any more enquiries.' Ryan
claims that the case cost him his job, his first marriage and tens of
thousands of dollars in superannuation payouts.' (Jones, W. 'Church apology
on priest probe', Herald Sun, 5 October 1997, p.3)
'A senior probation officer at the time (1960)
was still around (1995)...Maurice Egan, now living in semi-retirement
in British Columbia..."I had no hard evidence; all I had was the
word of the young boys themselves...allegations of fondling and sexual
activity...I reported it and there was an investigation." (St. Joseph's
Training School, Alfred, Ontario). Egan said he had been ostracised for
his actions.' (Henton, D. Boys Don't Cry, Mc Clelland &
Stewart, Toronto, 1995, p. 95.)
'Cardinal Bernard Law (Boston, USA) revealed
yesterday that he had defrocked John J. Geoghan, 63 for sexually molesting
around fifty children over three decades. Richard Sipe commented: "The
tradition of the church has been to take care of its own. This is a kind
of desperate move that says. We can't move you anyplace. We can't send
you anywhere. We can't kick you upstairs. We can't bury you. So we're
taking this extreme measure of kicking you out." ('Accused perpetrator
defrocked', Missing Link, Summer - Fall 1998, p.3)
Of course, there can be hostility to the
whistleblower in secular circles as well, as in the following
recent example:
Alison Taylor (Whistleblower) took the fateful
step of approaching police fourteen years ago. The social worker with
more than ten years experience had run a Children's Home in North Wales
for four years and grown increasingly alarmed at the residents stories
of sexual abuse, beatings and bullying.
When Alison Taylor met Detective Chief Superintendent
Gwyn Owen, the head of the North Wales CID ... it set off a chain of events
which cost her her job and career. But it also led to the exposure of
Britain's biggest child-abuse scandal, a story of criminality and cruelty
aided and abetted by ignorance and complicity stretching back two decades.
After six months, the police investigation
ground to a halt and Ms Taylor was sacked. She won her case for unfair
dismissal. 'I was on the scrap heap, reputation in shreds, prospects non-existent,
my family's future very bleak and all because I refused to turn deaf ears
and blind eyes to the abuse of children in care. (Dobson, R and Cherry,
N. 'The Abuse', The Independent, (London),16 February 2000,
p. 3)
Let us lay traps for the upright man,
since he annoys us
and opposes our way of life,
reproaches us for our sins against the Law,
and accuses us of sins against our upbringing.
He claims to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a child of the Lord.
We see him as a reproof to our way of thinking,
the very sight of him weighs our spirits down;
for his kind of life is not like other people's,
and his ways are quite different.
In his opinion we are counterfeit;
he avoids our ways as he would filth;
he proclaims the final end of the upright as blessed
and boasts of having God for his father.
Let us see if what he says is true,
and test him to see what end he will have.
For if the upright man is God's son, God will help him,
and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.
Let us test him with cruelty and with torture;
and thus explore this gentleness of his
and put his patience to the test.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death
since God will rescue him - or so he claims,
- Wisdom, 2, 10-20.
Illegal, Immoral, and Boundary Violations
There are four situations in which priests
or Brothers can get themselves involved in breach of their vows:
1. Brother/Father sexually abuses a child,
i.e. a legal child, in Australia someone under the age of eighteen,
and we bear in mind that most eighteen year olds do not consider themselves
as children. Father is acting illegally and immorally and, of course,
in breach of his vows.
2. Father/Brother has consensual sex with
an adult lady or gentleman with whom he has no professional/pastoral
relationship. He breaks his vows of chastity (period).
3. Father/Brother has a consensual sexual
experience with an adult with whom he is associated in some sort of
pastoral role. This is not illegal, but is a so-called professional
'boundary violation'. While not illegal, similar relationships with
other professionals draw sanctions. Over the next few years, it is probable
that these relationships will be the subjects of legislation.
The rub for the Catholic priest or Brother
with a vow of chastity is that all these relationships are contrary to
his vow; only some are illegal, but on the principle that 'Birds of a
feather flock together' these relationships together are the foundation
of the sexual underworld which can develop in some dioceses and in some
religious congregations.
The Suicide of the Confronted Perpetrator
'Father Sean Fortune, who faced 29 charges
of sexual abuse against young boys...was found by a friend sitting upright
in bed in his home in New Ross, Co. Wexford. Beside him were his rosary
beads and a prayer book. He left a suicide note in which he apologised
to his family and blamed the media for his misfortune. An envelope contained
his will. A bottle of whiskey and pills were in the room.' ('Fortune case
may put the church under new sex-abuse scrutiny', The Irish Times,
15 March 1999, p.1)
'A Queensland Marist Brother committed suicide
the day before he was to face extradition proceedings for child sex offences...at
Chanel College, Gladstone (Qld.) in the early 1970s...five charges of
indecent assault. Brother Raymond Foster was found hanging from a sheet
at a Marist Brothers retirement home in Mittagong about 7 a.m. on Tuesday
(24 March 1999) 'Marist Brother found hanged' Courier-Mail
(Brisbane), 26 March 1999, p.9.
A former Christian Brother, John Gladwin
(65), under police investigation for alleged child-sex offences, is believed
to have committed suicide on an isolated bush road on Brisbane's northern
outskirts. Ferny Grove police last night said they found a suicide note
on Saturday detailing the circumstances of the death of the man, John
Gladwin.' (Doneman, P. 'Child-sex suspect found dead', Courier-Mail
(Brisbane), 11 November 1998, p,5)
Brother Michael Evans had been abusing boys
for years...Evans, who killed himself rather than be charged with indecent
assault, was a prominent figure in Wollongong. He was principal of the
well-known Edmund Rice College; he was on numerous community bodies, he
had a regular spot on the local radio station, and a column in the local
paper, the Illawarra Mercury. (McClymont, K. 'The Shame of
Church and State', Sydney Morning Herald, 1 May 1997)
On 4 June 1994, the Rev John Hesch of the
Diocese of Richmond (Va) put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
Several hours earlier, he had been confronted with allegations of child
sexual abuse. Next to his body lay written notes claiming his innocence.
The previous year, the Rev Thomas Smith of the Archdiocese of Baltimore
put a 12-gauge shotgun to his head and ended his life. Allegations that
he had sexually abused a young boy were presented to him on 19 August
1993. Two days later, he was dead. One year before Father Smith's suicide,
the chancellor of the Diocese of Arlington, Msgr William Reinecke, died
at the Trappist Abbey of Berryville, (Va). After his death a young man
came forward alleging that he had previously confronted Monsignor Reinecke
with charges of sexual molestation. The chancellor ended his life with
a shotgun on 11 August 1992. A priest from Alabama shot himself in 1986
after being accused of sexually molesting a 12-year-old boy. The 61-year-old
priest left a note saying that he would rather be 'a dead memory than
a living disgrace.' These priests are not the only ones who had died at
their own hands in the wake of allegations of child sexual abuse. There
have been several others and the list is growing. (Rosetti, S J, 'Priest
suicides and the crisis of faith', America, 29 October 1994,
pp 8-12)
Living and learning is filling me more
and more with admiration for the actual wording of the Rule and with
a conviction that we must insist, really insist, on a high standard
of observance, or see to it that the corruptors are cut off from the
body... Briefly, he is guilty of adultery on several occasions with
a Catholic woman...We have in the Province (Australia) a few who are
not making any serious effort, seemingly, to fulfil the obligations
that they freely took upon themselves and they are a source of scandal
to others who are fundamentally good. I would like to see these disturbers
given canonical warnings and if they set their minds on continuing with
their evil ways, we should dismiss them.
- Congregation Leadership Team member
to Superior-General, 24 August 1952.
The writer was preparing a Provincial for
a television programme some years ago on matters concerned with the sexual
abuse crisis. The word 'truth' came into the conversation and the Province
Leader remarked that 'Truth was a luxury he could not afford at the moment'.
A good strategy for the 'man of God' ?
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