Church in
Crisis
New
bishop faces old problem
By MARGOT PATTERSON
If Catholics in Palm Beach feel dismayed by a sex abuse scandal in
the Catholic church that has removed not one but two bishops from the diocese,
the new bishop of Palm Beach, Sean O’Malley, may himself be suffering from
a case of déjà vu.
O’Malley was transferred to Palm Beach from the diocese of
Fall River, Mass., where he was also called on to clear up sex abuse in the
diocese that predated his installation as bishop in 1992. Over a period of
seven years, from 1960 to 1967, Fr. James Porter had molested scores of
children in the diocese before leaving the priesthood to marry. When
O’Malley became bishop, he instituted criminal background checks for
priests and other church workers and special training for church workers and
volunteers in detecting child abuse. The preventive programs he instituted in
Fall River have been held up as a model for other dioceses.
O’Malley said one of his first priorities in Palm Beach is
restoring a sense of normalcy to the diocese. He described the challenge
confronting him in Palm Beach as rather different from that which he faced in
Fall River.
“In Fall River when I arrived, there were scores of victims
of Fr. Porter. Here this is not the case,” O’Malley told NCR in a
phone interview. “The incidents the former bishops were involved in
didn’t take place here. Here it’s more one of the credibility of the
church. There it was really trying to meet with those victims and to meet with
the parishes Fr. Porter had been stationed at. But of course it’s all part
of the same problem, issues of sexual abuse that took place many, many times
and at that time, for whatever reason, were not adequately resolved and dealt
with and, years later, picking up the pieces and dealing with the
consequences.”
The crisis of credibility O’Malley faces extends beyond just
the Catholic community. The resignation of Bishop Anthony O’Connell in
March of last year was covered extensively in the secular press, and local
television stations interrupted their regular programming to cover the news
conference in which O’Connell resigned. Residents of all faiths have an
opinion on the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church.
“I’m very shocked,” said Paige Lloyd, a 20-year-old
African-American Pentecostal who with her mother just opened a small candy shop
on a courtyard off Palm Beach Island’s Worth Avenue, a chic street lined
with expensive stores and boutiques. “I just think it’s ridiculous
all that’s going on in the Catholic church. I think they need to get rid
of some of those people doing those things instead of just leaving them in
those positions.”
“I think it’s terrible,” said Mike, a Federal
Express worker making a delivery who was raised Catholic but now describes
himself as a born-again Christian. “What’s terrible is the
cover-up.”
But it was Paul Scharf, a neurosurgeon shopping for a video to
watch on his day off, who was most devastating in his criticism.
“I think it cannot be viewed as the failure of a few
individuals. It must be viewed as a failure of the entire institution to
regulate, educate and make proper amends, and the fault must lie ultimately
with Rome. The church should have been smart enough to realize that in this
time we live in, the way to deal with a moral crisis and a failure of
theological responsibility is to define the problem before the public
does,” Scharf said.
Scharf noted that pedophilia is an age-old evil but one that he
said the Catholic church has protected. “I think it’s much worse in
the Catholic church because it’s a more centralized, bureaucratic religion
than almost any religion on earth. There’s a direct relation between
bureaucracy and an inability to correct problems because of self-interest and
power.”
Among Catholics, probably the most outspoken critic of the church
in the Palm Beach diocese has been lawyer Edward Ricci. A Florida Catholic who
said he has raised millions of dollars for Catholic churches, colleges and
schools, Ricci started a Web site last year that urged Catholics to withhold
contributions until the diocese did more to put its house in order. The Web
site is no longer active, but Ricci continues to be publicly critical of the
diocese for, in his opinion, turning a blind eye to a priest accused of
molesting women and for not taking stronger action against a financial manager
who embezzled $400,000 from the diocese several years ago.
Ricci, whose face appears on the back of the Palm Beach telephone
book in an advertisement for his law firm, has urged the diocese to institute
polygraph tests for priests and to have priests sign an affidavit swearing they
are not guilty of sex abuse.
National Catholic Reporter, March 14,
2003
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