Editorial - Op Ed

Thursday August 18, 2011

“I am so sorry! I am so sorry!” This has been my response to victims of sexual abuse the first of who disclosed his tragic story to me in October of 1985, two years after my arrival as pastor of St. Joseph. It was weeks before I came to know all the details of the abuse by one of my predecessors and how long he endured it. Having reported another allegation of sexual abuse by another priest two years prior to this disclosure, I was not unaware of incidents of sexual abuse by clergy. It was at this time that the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana was prominent in the national headlines for the cover-up of sexual abuse by clergy. Little did we know at the time that ‘official cover-up’ would be the protocol of official response across the country and now across the globe, the Church in Ireland having become the latest and most notable.

Shortly after that initial disclosure, I promised the victim, now a survivor, that victims of sexual abuse would have a ‘preferential option’ in my life. By that I meant that I would give their recovery the highest priority in my ministry as a priest/pastor. Little did I realize at the time how extensive the list of victims from that parish would become. To date over sixteen victims of identified themselves publicly but I have personal knowledge of still more victims of sexual abuse by this same priest. In the course of the twenty-six years that I have been an advocate for victims, I have repeated these words, “I am so sorry…” more times that I can count.

I remember stating after the initial disclosure that my life would never be the same but I don’t think I realized the impact of those words. I do know now. Members of the family of the abused and their advocates can easily succumb to the symptoms of abuse. This places us in the category of ‘secondary victims’. They suffer the same consequences of the injustice and re-victimization as they seek an acknowledgement of these criminal acts and some remediation. It’s called posttraumatic stress disorder. I have been told it takes as long to heal as it took to take hold of victims and secondary victims. At that rate, I have twenty more years to go to reach that goal! Please God, it will not take that long.

Though lawsuits against the Church with huge settlements have also been prominent in the media, the costs of defense attorneys to the Church have never been published. The threat of church bankruptcy and in many cases, bankruptcy has been the legal response of several dioceses. However, let it be stated loud and clear that money was not the issue in the minds of victims at the outset. They turned to the courts only after the Church turned to its attorneys to arrange legal settlements with gag orders that prohibited victims from making public their abuse while many of the accused priests were reassigned to other parishes.

Many of you are aware of some aspects of my advocacy, public and private, but alas, there are details of many stories that I will never be able to disclose publicly or privately. I will take them to my grave.

Many have suggested that I write a book.

This reminds me of a little exchange I had with an elderly woman ‘buried’ in the ghetto of Paterson many years ago when I was pastor at St. Therese Parish. Prior to my assignment as pastor, I had served as vice chancellor and priest secretary to Bishop Casey. As such, I resided at St. Therese and had my own private business phone. When I became pastor, I discontinued my private phone and the number was eventually reassigned to this elderly soul in the heart of the ghetto. And so it was inevitable that our paths would cross. She kept receiving calls all hours of the day and night asking for Fr. Lasch. She finally tracked me down to find out what was going on? What kind of a ‘business’ had I been running?

I explained my situation and offered to pay for a new phone number. In any case, she became one of my monthly communion calls.

He was the widow of a policeman from Hackensack. She had little or nothing in the way of a pension. We used to chat about her life and one day I suggested to her that she should write a book. She replied “Father Lasch, if I were to write a book, it would be condemned after the first chapter!” She was a colorful lady.

The point is, that if I were to write a book, it would be condemned after the preface!

I am not interested in writing about my experience. It might be therapeutic but at this point it is still too painful. I’m not dismissing that possibility in the future and if I do decide to author such a book, it will not be a diatribe but a book rooted in the Gospel. I have never viewed getting even as an acceptable resolution to conflict or as the ultimate path to justice. I have been strong and vocal in my call for justice for victims. I have been forthright and successful in the defense of those falsely accused of abuse, few though they may be. And I have been forthright in my insistence that predators receive the necessary therapy they need to prevent them from ever offending again.

The study conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice was important but by no means a complete explanation. It will take years before the full import of this tragic epoch of Church history is fully understood and eventually resolved.

There are still a few folks who suggest that victim/survivors “get over it.” Is that what they would suggest to those afflicted with cancer or some other life-threatening illness?. Sexual abuse, especially by a priest or religious is life-threatening.

The ‘editorial’ below appeared in the latest issue of AMERICA Magazine. I believe it is a fair position of where we have been and where we still need to go.

How you can help: Road to Recovery Inc

Father Lasch

Ahead of the Story
THE EDITORS | AUGUST 15, 2011
AMERICA The National Catholic Weekly

Nobody likes reading about clerical sexual abuse. Yet for well over a decade now, in diocese after diocese, the actions of abusive priests and negligent diocesan officials have been brought to light—and appropriately so. Unfortunately, these revelations have come not from church leaders but from grand jury filings, government reports and press exposés. Almost without exception, the official response has lagged well behind reportage. Chanceries have reacted as though stunned by accusations that they have in some cases known about for decades, appearing combative and defensive while struggling to answer lurid allegations.

Recent weeks have proved no different, as the Irish church has been rocked yet again by a government report on clerical abuse. An investigation of the Diocese of Cloyne found that between 1996 and 2009—after national standards were set for dealing with abuse allegations—such reports were ignored, handled improperly or never reported to civil authorities. Fallout in Ireland, traditionally one of the world’s most Catholic countries, has been severe. In a rare public rebuke, the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, chided his fellow bishops for withholding reports on sexual abuse of minors, telling them, “Hiding isn’t helping.” Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny, a Catholic, accused the Vatican of covering up the “rape and torture of children.” The Vatican recalled its ambassador, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, to Rome for consultation and to assist in formulating the Vatican’s official response before moving to his next post in the Czech Republic.
The sexual abuse crisis has devastated many, beginning with individual victims and their families. The morale of laity and clergy alike has been severely undermined, as has the moral authority of many bishops. Impressions of coverups and malfeasance have tainted the highest levels of church governance, triggering frequent and justified calls for mass resignations of bishops and, more recently, indictments of chancery officials. Lagging behind the story has made matters worse, fueling the impression that the church is hiding something, shielding abusers to protect “the institution” instead of vulnerable children.

As Ireland smolders in the report’s wake, a hopeful yet far less noted development has emerged in Germany—a nation also weighed down by abuse allegations. Germany’s Catholic bishops have begun taking steps to rebuild the trust that has been lost in recent years. In July they voted unanimously to grant independent investigators access to their files on sexual abuse by clergy—some cases as far back as 1945. No doubt their findings will raise serious questions about how allegations were handled and will reveal systemic failures in protecting children. Though prior damage cannot be undone, the country’s bishops are acknowledging that they need outside help to combat this problem. In so doing, they are also being proactive, not reactive.

Bishops around the world should follow their example. If the church’s own claims about abuse are true—that it is damnable yet distressingly widespread, infecting families and schools as often as churches—then there are certainly allegations against priests and religious that have yet to come to light. To date, the crisis has hit hardest in North America and Western Europe. Far fewer allegations have surfaced in other regions, including Central and South America, India, Africa and Asia. But all of these have enormous Catholic populations, and it would be foolish to presume that these locales have been free of abuse and mishandled allegations. Indeed, this is one instance in which the catholicity of the church will likely prove a liability, not an asset.

Recent years have shown that as a topic in the news, sexual abuse by clerics is resilient. Once in the headlines, it remains there indefinitely. Unless the church begins to respond differently, as the German bishops are trying to do, sexual abuse will continue to be the main story about the Catholic Church for years, even decades, as accusations surface around the world.

Countless bishops, including Pope Benedict XVI, have spoken of the crisis as an opening for repentance, conversion and purification in the church. We continue to hope that it will be so and pray that the many victims of abuse will be healed in the same measure that they have been harmed. For this hope to be well founded, however, church leaders must stop playing defense around the issue of abuse. Rebuilding relationships of trust between the hierarchy and the faithful will take more than promises from church leaders that they are trustworthy. They must prove it. This will require resignations in cases of mendacity and negligence. In more cases, it will demand that bishops be the bearers of their own bad news about abuse. This will be an act of humility, even a painful one. But there is no alternative.

Editors. AMERICA

and from Germany, another POSTSCRIPT

German Catholics are ‘weary,’ says Jesuit
Aug. 19, 2011
By Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

Jesuit Fr. Klaus Mertes (AP/Dapd/Franka Bruns)

In January 2010, Jesuit Fr. Klaus Mertes, headmaster of the prestigious Jesuit-run Canisius College in Berlin, sent a letter to former students of the school informing them that two former priests had been accused of sexual misconduct with students. In the letter, he wrote that he was deeply shaken and ashamed because he had learned that “systematic abuse had taken place at the school over the years.”

Within a week of the letter being made public, 20 other students came forward with stories of sexual abuse by teachers at the school. When the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported the story, even more former students came forward.

Soon a whole series of abuse cases at other well-known Jesuit and Benedictine schools in Germany and in many German dioceses came to light. By spring, the revelations were coming from Austrian and Swiss church institutions.

Since then, 180,000 German and 87,000 Austrian Catholics have formally left the church. German-speaking Catholic Europe was engulfed—in the words of Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn—in a tsunami of clerical abuse.

Mertes, 56, stepped down from his post at Canisius College in June. In July, he talked with Der Spiegel about clergy sexual abuse and the Catholic church.

Germany is in the final stages of preparing for a papal visit. For the Sept. 22-25 visit to his homeland, Pope Benedict XVI has scheduled 28 events and he is to deliver 17 public addresses. Mertes said he would like the pope to use the event to reach out to troubled German Catholics, but he doesn’t hold out much hope.
Many committed, middle-of-the-road Catholics are “deeply weary” and resignation has settled in, which explains the mass exodus of Catholics from the church, he told Der Spiegel.

Some people in the church aren’t alarmed by the exodus, however, he said. Certain circles actually welcome the fact that thousands are formally leaving the church in Germany. They regard it as “healthy downsizing” that enables “true Catholics” to be among themselves, he said.

Over the last 18 months, Mertes said, he has received masses of hate mail and letters accusing him of being disloyal, of splitting the church and of fouling his nest.

He expressed gratitude that Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky of Berlin had given him full backing from the beginning, while noting that other members of the hierarchy were not supportive. (Sterzinsky died June 30 at age 75.)

He recalled that Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, had called stories about sexual abuse by clergy “petty gossip.”

“I was aghast that anyone could say that and I’m still deeply ashamed about that statement of Sodano’s,” Mertes said. He added that he was immensely grateful that Schönborn had openly contradicted Sodano.

Only recently a cardinal in the Vatican had said that Mertes ought to be thrown out of the church, Mertes told Der Spiegel.
“I owe everything to the church—my faith, the prayers I pray, the liturgy I celebrate and the Gospel. The values I try to live by are the Gospel values. I will not to allow all that to be taken from me by a small clique of people who by vilifying me think they are doing the church a service,” he said.

“The Catholic church is more than just a circle of mobbing Catholics who act in the dark, who think even the slightest critical remark is disloyal and who denounce people who ask questions. ... My big worry is that the hierarchy will listen to them.

“The bitterest thing is that Rome accepts these denunciations. The informers are protected by being allowed to remain anonymous so they can continue to act in the dark. They get the significance the powers that be give them.”

Mertes said that he “can live with [personal attacks] but what I find worse is that part of the hierarchy who remain silent in the face of such attackers out of fear that they too will be attacked in the same way.”
“There are opportunists in the hierarchy who say nothing when this vociferous, self-righteous minority in the church speaks out,” he said.

The church, Mertes said, is ready for change, but church leadership is afraid. “The church leadership immediately fears that it will no longer be in charge of the discussion. It is afraid of losing authority. ... We as a church must learn to look at our church in a new way. We must clear up why there is this silence and what leads to it. That is the decisive question and the question the victims are asking.”

[Christa Pongratz-Lippitt is correspondent in Vienna, Austria, for the London-based Catholic newsmagazine The Tablet.]

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