EDITORIAL After legal settlement, still waiting for honest
accounting
The civil case against suspended priest Rudolph Rudy
Kos, accused of molesting minors over a period of 12 years in three parishes,
appears to be reaching some manner of resolution with the settlement of $7.5
million to three of 11 plaintiffs.
One hopes that settlements with the remaining plaintiffs occur
quickly and that justice will be done without bankrupting the diocese.
As one of the first three plaintiffs to settle explained, the
dispute is not with the ordinary faithful, who would ultimately be affected by
huge settlements, but with the administrators whose gross negligence allowed
the abuse to go on.
Those who dealt with the earliest priest sex abuse scandals in
other parts of the country claimed that in reassigning accused priests they had
acted in good faith and according to the current understanding of
professionals. No such excuse can be advanced today.
According to testimony during the civil trial last June, as
recounted in previous NCR stories, Dallas accepted Kos as a seminarian even
though he had just annulled his marriage, and his wife and brothers had told
tribunal personnel that Kos had an attraction to boys. The brothers testified
that they would have been willing to tell diocesan officials more about Kos and
his dangerous behavior if they had been asked.
Fr. Daniel Clayton testified that in 1986, well after such
scandals had broken nationally, he had warned then Bishop Thomas Tschoepe about
Kos. Clayton testified he had kept a detailed log of boys visits to
Kos rectory room at St. Lukes parish. He told Tschoepe that he had
repeatedly confronted Kos. But officials, in particular Msgr. Robert Rehkemper,
then vicar general, deemed that Kos behavior was just
suspicious and that no evidence existed that he was an
abuser.
Members of the diocesan personnel committee were aware of the
concerns that Kos might be a sex abuser but did not stop his promotion to
pastor.
At his new pastorate, according to testimony, the charming and
persuasive Kos rearranged youth activities, discouraging both girls and parents
from becoming involved. Fr. Robert Williams, assigned to St. Johns as
associate pastor, told the court that from his first day there he was alarmed
at Kos behavior.
According to news accounts, Williams testified that Kos lured boys
to his room with candy, movies and video games. Williams repeatedly confronted
Kos and met several times with Rehkemper. Further, he wrote a 12-page letter to
Bishop Charles Grahmann, who replaced Tschoepe in 1990.
It was not until one of the victims complained that the diocese
took action.
Sex abuse is a nightmare for administrators because it is by
nature a secretive crime. Without witnesses or evidence, bishops often are
expected to pick through thickets of conflicting rights: the basic presumption
of innocence for the priest and the protection of children from sexual
predators.
In the Kos case, however, the two bishops appear to have received
an unusual amount of warning. Grahmann made a highly publicized public apology
to 300 people at a Catholic fundraiser as the trial was underway. But we are
still left asking what he apologized for. He made general statements about not
being alert or on guard and about the need to show
compassion, but neither he nor his predecessor ever expressed any culpability
for what went on.
Its as if bishops are the absolute pastors, autonomous
within their dioceses and overseers of all that goes on, until something like
this happens. And then responsibility diffuses into thin air.
The apology was further discredited when it was learned that
Grahmann attended a private meeting of powerful laymen to plan an aggressive
legal and public relations campaign designed to discredit and eventually
overturn the jurys $119.6 million judgment against the diocese
(NCR, Sept. 5, 1997).
The American bishops have worked hard to develop strategies for
dealing with the sex abuse problem, but they have done little to convince the
faithful that they would stand accountable in any way except to show up in
court for what occurs under their governance.
The Texas plaintiffs may feel vindicated by the monetary awards,
but the rest of the church waits for an honest accounting -- some word from the
pastors heart.
National Catholic Reporter, March 20,
1998
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