Catholics grapple with scandal at parish
forum
By CHUCK COLBERT
Cambridge, Mass.
Catholics in increasing numbers and in more and more parishes and
worshipping communities throughout the Boston archdiocese are finding
themselves bewildered, angry, and outraged,
with the incessant reports of priest sexual abuse in the news media.
The frequency of the reports has increased since the history of
child sex abuse practiced by John Geoghan, the defrocked priest of the Boston
archdiocese, was told in early January. Geoghan, who has been accused of
molesting more than 130 children, on Feb. 21 received the maximum sentence in
the first criminal case brought to trial against him: He will serve up to 10
years in jail for indecent assault and battery on a 10-year-old boy. Geoghan
was scheduled to face a second trial scheduled to begin in late February on
charges of raping a minor.
The pain and shock is so great that some parishes and other
Catholic institutions have begun offering pastoral support to the laity and
clergy. One such parish is St. Pauls, located in the Harvard Square
neighborhood of the city.
St. Pauls Parish serves the Catholic community at Harvard,
its undergraduates and graduate students, university faculty members, and
Catholic intellectuals. It is also home parish for families in the Riverside
and Mid-Cambridge neighborhoods and home base for the Boston Archdiocese Choir
School.
Here, on Sunday evening, the same day an afternoon protest was
held at Cardinal Bernard Laws residence, Msgr. Dennis F. Sheehan, the
pastor, welcomed a group of nearly 100 to an open-microphone public forum in
the churchs DiGiovanni Hall.
Mary Hogan, who is on the archdiocesan board of education, and
Joanne Coakley, a guidance councilor in nearby Arlington, Mass., served as the
forums moderators.
We have faced a period of terrible shock, disappointment and
upset in the church in Boston, Sheehan said during his introductory
remarks. That period has been focused on two issues as I see it. They are
related unfortunately, even tragically, to one another.
He listed the sexual abuse of minor children by clergy in
considerable numbers and the considerable anger and wonderment at
the closing of ranks and secrecy that seem to be much more concerned with
protecting the image of the church than with protecting the safety of children
and the integrity of religious life.
I share that concern as much as you do. I dont have
any greater wisdom, dont know anymore about this situation than you do.
One of the issues is that the parish clergy are really without any resources,
communications, either among themselves or with the diocesan
leadership.
Laypeople who spoke at the forum addressed a variety of concerns,
issues that some believe have direct or indirect bearing on the scandal
mandatory celibacy for ordination, incomplete magisterial understanding of
human sexuality, nonordination of women and married people, the threat the
scandal poses to vocations, the role of the laity, the medias role in
reporting sexual abuse, even canon law.
The prevailing mood was one of wholehearted support
for good priests.
June Cuomo reminded people, We are the church, adding,
Let us take heart and stop living as docile lambs, trusting that the
benevolence and wisdom of our church structure can flourish without constant
support and vigilance.
Richard Griffin voiced concern and support for the children
who have been hurt and abused but also a caution about how accused
priests are being treated. Is it just to pick out from lists in the
chancery the names of clerics who may have been accused long ago, maybe only
once perhaps, then to contact them to get out of the rectory immediately, that
they are all finished with pastoral ministry?
It seems to me that is treating our own clergy very
unjustly.
Rose Moss placed the local scandal within a national and
intern+ational framework. This issue of abuse is found in every diocese
in the United States and in Ireland, England, France, Germany, South Africa,
South America. Wherever there is a Catholic church with power this scandal
exists, she said.
More pointedly, There has never been a gap such as the one
on sexual morality that we have now in the church, except before the
Reformation, Moss added.
The final speaker was Neil Doherty, a member of the parish peer
youth group and pastoral council. He suggested the idea of an interparish vow
of nonsilence.
We cant stand for the abuse of our children, brothers
and sisters in Jesus Christ, he said. We cannot be silent about any
abuse physical, sexual or emotional.
National Catholic Reporter, March 1,
2002
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