Abandoned Altars

This summer, sixteen years ago, the clergy abuse crisis began for me, as well as for a lot of people. On June 2, 1992, ABC News PrimeTime broadcast the very first piece about serial child molester James Porter. I remember watching it, hugging myself and crying. I couldn’t believe that they were talking about the same kind of horror I had been dealing with for several months previous.

But it was indeed. Three weeks later, they broadcast an update. A young Diane Sawyer told the story about how it came about. The exposure of Porter was due to a brave survivor, Frank Fitzpatrick, who had been abused by Porter as a 12-year-old altar boy. Now grown, and a professional investigator, he tracked Porter down and actually confronted him on the phone.

The show even ran bits of the tape. Porter admitted he had abused Frank with an embarrassed chuckle, but that was the most remorse he would show. He claimed he had stopped molesting children in 1967, which of course, was a total lie.

For Diane Sawyer said that just during those three weeks some 60 victims came out. They even showed footage of her camera crew confronting the ex-priest, who reacted like a caged animal. It was electric, overwhelming, like nothing that had been on television before. (more…)

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With Pope Benedict’s arrival in the US just days away, interest is growing in his role in the clergy sex abuse scandals. A British documentary revives the charges that he led the cover-up.

That is but the tip of the proverbial iceberg, I’m afraid. Recent historical research for a book I’m writing has convinced me that Joseph Ratzinger is largely responsible for the scandals erupting in the first place. And he is directly responsible for their ending. Details can be found here.

That’s right. The scandals are over, folks. You just have not realized it yet.

Why is this important? First of all, they are over because the cover-up is in place even worse than before.

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Once upon a time, in a land blessed with peace and prosperity, there were certain good sheepleherds. These boys and girls were bothered by things they had heard. Bad men who pretended to be good were hurting other children in temples everywhere and no one could stop them. Their leaders turned away and would not listen.

“This is not right,” the good children said. “We must help them.”

And so they got together to go on a crusade. “We will fight them,” they said. “We will stop the bad men. We will tell the supreme wizard who will make our leaders listen. Everything will be better, just like it used to be, once again.”

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It’s going to be an uphill push to sell World Catholic Abuse Survivors Day. Just getting the word out to victims and survivors is a struggle.

However, there’s one group already working on it. It seems the Church knows and is already planning counter-moves. On December 15, the pope’s own preacher, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa in an Advent address called for a “day of fasting and penance” over the clergy sex abuse scandal to ask God’s forgiveness and express solidarity for victims.

Well, that should take care of it!

Actually, there was a time when such an action – especially if coupled with evidence of real concern and willingness to reform – would have been gratefully welcomed as a sign that the Church “got it” and was making an honest effort to fix the problem. But those days are long past.

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For over a decade, victims and survivors of sexual and other abuse within the Roman Catholic Church have been struggling for justice and reform. Grassroots organizations, such as SNAP and the former Linkup and other have led the long, hard fight for recognition, compensation, and safegaurds for future generations.

It’s been a difficult and thankless struggle and a great deal of work needs to be done. Yet, the strides made have been great. The public is now aware of the problems within the Church as never before. Despite a great deal of denial, the hierarchy has acknowledged the evil has been done. Many victims have won handsome settlements. And the laity has been aroused and many are asking questions.

Maybe it’s time to change tactics. Maybe it’s time to celebrate our accomplishments — and in so doing, take the movement to a whole new level.

World Catholic Abuse Survivors Day is a proposal for such an event, put on by survivors and supporters around the world. It’s a simple idea, but it embodies a revolutionary new strategy of engaging the Church.

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