Author Archives: Tereza Ma

Amid scandals, a way forward

Posted on by
Reply

GUEST COLUMN
By Lee Gilbert, Catholic News Service
Many Catholics are speaking now of their anger, of their downheartedness and even of the threat to their own faith that the recent scandals have caused. This is understandable. Yet, offering one another counsels of anger, despair and indignation does not seem the way to go, either.
What then? As someone once said, we are in the grave with Jesus Christ, but he knows the way out.
The very severity of the problem indicates a way forward, a way that is not the usual, soft way into which we have fallen over the past half century, but an effective way for all that, the way of the cross. We are being driven to become a disciplined people who know how to bring grace down from heaven in torrents.
That does not at all mean we should hide our heads in the sand over this business. We should be as well informed as necessary. But how much information do we need to act responsibly as Catholics? Do we need, for example, to read the sordid details of every instance of abuse?
While we need to be well-informed, we do not need to put our own mental health and spiritual lives at risk.
I have come to think of the news media as “Institutionalized Worry.” It is the job of journalists to report exceptions to good order. But when you read a newspaper filled with stories about these exceptions, you begin to get the idea that the entire world is a mess. It isn’t.
I teach fifth-graders at my parish and with my new awareness about the media was able to say that, on the whole, the world is an orderly and beautiful place. Your dad gets up every morning, day after day, to provide for your family; your mother, too, works very hard. You have pleasant meals together on the whole and had a very nice vacation last year. And there are many, many families like yours. This is perfectly normal, and that is why there is no reportage. People do not want to read about normality.
Similarly, there are 400,000 priests around the world and a great many of them are living heroic lives. No one in the secular press reports on priests martyred for the faith, priests who preach the truth bravely, who get up at all hours to assist the dying. If we do read such stories, our mental state would be much better, our faith built up.
I get that this is a scandal of historic proportions, that people’s lives were ruined, that many priests betrayed their vows, that there are bishops who made grave errors.
That is all the information I need when I set out to do what I can as a layman. I will avoid falling into the same traps that the abusive priests fell into, namely, letting my prayer life slip, speaking ill of my superiors and falling into the grace-sapping trap of anger. There is such a thing as righteous anger, but when a person sinks into a state of anger and depression, he is paving the way for temptations.
I need to bolster my spiritual life by reading lives of the saints, not the deeds of unrepentant sinners.
Any Catholic with even a cursory familiarity with recent news has more than enough information to inspire him to a life of prayer and penance.
Digging up more news is to one degree or another self-deception, and even, one could say, a species of addiction, where one opens a blog or a newspaper to get another shot of adrenaline, of self-justification, for however bad I might be, at least I am not that bad. From my standpoint as an ancient of 75 years, this is a dangerous, dangerous business, and itself a ploy of the devil, for one does not become a saint by thinking of sinners and their sinful deeds.
Prayer and penance, however, make up the well-worn way to a noble and a holy life.

(This commentary was published online Feb. 14 on the website of the Catholic Sentinel, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon. It was written by Lee Gilbert, a member of Holy Rosary Parish in Portland.)

The joyful season of Lent

Posted on by
Reply

Guest Column
By Father Father John Catoir, JCD
There is a famous quote from St. John Chrysostom that draws attention to the supreme purpose of Lent; namely, the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. “Every year we celebrate Easter, the greatest and most shining feast of the Liturgical calendar.”
From the beginning, the Lenten Liturgy has been filled with references to joy, not only because it is a time of preparation for the Resurrection, but also because our purification through prayer and fasting brings a special form of delight to the soul.
We need to think of Lent as both a time of joy, and a time of penance. This is not a new idea. Gregory the Great, who was pope at the turn of the sixth century A.D., emphasized the theme of joy. He spoke of the two-fold path before us: the way of life that leads to joy, and the way of death that leads to misery. He quoted from the first Psalm to make his point: “Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked.”
Lent is a 40-day period devoted to prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It is designed to help us focus on the mystery of our redemption. Through it all we all called to live joyfully because of the knowledge of God’s love. We fast because there is always a need for penance.
Think of Lent as a musical prelude to the joyful symphony of Easter. The entire celebration lasts 50 days beyond Easter Sunday, right up to Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the Church. During this Easter cycle we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, who came down upon us on the birthday of the Church. The ultimate celebration comes when Jesus returns to us at the end of time.
Fasting helps us to free ourselves from the things of this world that diminish our desire to put first things first; namely the love of God, the love of neighbor and love of self.
Fasting is particularly helpful for those who are addicted in some way: to drugs, or one of the vices. Think about it: greed is an acquisitive spirit, anger is a lust for vengeance, jealousy is the constant fear that someone is taking from you what you think is rightly yours, envy is sadness over the good fortune of another, and lust is an inordinate attraction to sex. We want to grow in virtue.
Almsgiving helps us to cultivating a generous spirit; it strengths us as we strive to love God above all things. Abbot John Chapman a great spiritual master wisely said, “The only way to pray well is to pray often. Pure prayer is in the will to give yourself to God. In prayer, you never have to force feelings of any kind.
Jesus is our role model. He prayed and fasted for 40 days in the desert, before he began his public ministry. “I have set an example, that you should also do as I do.”- John 13:15. Love is the supreme law, and the ultimate purpose of our Lenten discipline.
When Jesus entered His public ministry, He was scorned, humiliated and betrayed by one of his own. He carried His cross, leaving us a legacy of courage, perseverance, hope and the promise of eternal joy.
“In this world you will have many troubles, but cheer up and take heart, for I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

(Father John Catoir is the founder and current president of the St. Jude Media Ministry, a national apostolate which uses Radio and TV to reach out to the millions of unchurched people in America – and to those in need of joy in their daily lives.)

National Catholic Sisters Week draws attention to communities of service

Posted on by
Reply

By Berta Mexidor
Religious women across America put their own twist on celebrating International Women’s Day when they celebrated National Catholic Sisters Week (NCSW), March 8-14. According to the website dedicated to the event, “NCSW is an annual celebration to honor women religious. It is a series of events that instruct, enlighten and bring greater focus to the lives of these incredible women. It’s our chance to recognize all they have done for us. It’s also our hope that as more young women learn about women religious, more will choose to follow their example.
“National Catholic Sisters Week, a branch of National Catholic Sisters Project headquartered at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisc., is headquartered at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn., and is held in conjunction with Women’s History Month.”
The website, https://nationalcatholicsistersweek.org/, includes testimonies to promote religious vocations and a range of activities celebrated by sisters around the country.
Certainly the history of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson is full of stories of the service and dedication of women religious. In the earliest days, they ran orphanages and schools. In the modern era, they founded and ran hospitals, worked as nurses, teachers, parish administrators and cloistered prayer warriors.
Mississippi Catholic thanks and honors the more than 100 religious serving throughout the Diocese in schools, hospitals, convents, community centers and prison ministry. Some, including Sister Thea Bowman, whose cause for canonization opened last year, are more famous than others, but they all give their lives in service to the Church and her people. They represent more than a dozen congregations including:
• The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes, – CSA;
• Missionaries Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit, MGSpS;
• School Sisters of Notre Dame, SSND;
• Sisters of Humility of Mary, CHM;
• Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, RSM;
• Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, DC;
• Sisters of Charity of Halifax, SC;
• Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, OSF;
• Order of Discalced Carmelite Nuns, OCD;
• Dominican Sisters of Springfield, OP;
• Congregation of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration, FSPA;
• School Sisters of St. Francis, Milwaukee, WI – OSF
• Sisters of St. Francis, Aston, OSF
• Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, SCN
• Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Minnesota
• Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes
• Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Family
• Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, SNJM;
• Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate, S.H.Sp;
• Union of the Sisters of the Presentation of the BVM, PBVM;
• Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province – CSJ.
• Sisters of St. Joseph, CSJ

Renew introduces small-group series to deal with clergy abuse crisis

Posted on by
Reply

By Mark Pattison
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Renew International, which has been offering small-group parish renewal series since the 1970s, has put together a six-week series for parishioners on dealing with the current clergy sexual abuse crisis.
Titled “Healing Our Church,” it offers reflections, Scripture passages, questions to participants to ponder and statements from abuse victims.
“We brought in a lot more with the victims’ voices,” said Jennifer Bober, Renew’s manager of marketing and communications, who was in on all of the development meetings for the new series. “That was something we felt was missing from the earlier resource. Just the directness of the approach, the forthrightness of the approach in this, is different. It’s a different time, and people’s response is very different.”
The Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, will employ “Healing Our Church” during Lent in a big way, with nearly 70 parishes — about 83 percent of all parishes in the diocese — offering the Renew series.

Renew International, which has been offering small-group parish renewal series since the 1980s, has put together a six-week series for parishioners on dealing with the current clergy sexual abuse crisis. Titled “Healing Our Church,” it offers reflections, Scripture passages, questions to participants to ponder and statements from abuse victims. (CNS)

Allentown had used Renew twice before, including its 2003 series dealing with clergy sex abuse, “Healing the Body of Christ.”
“We’re trying to do the best we can to meet the needs of victims of abuse, physical victims of abuse,” said Bishop Alfred A. Schlert of Allentown in a Feb. 27 telephone interview with Catholic News Service, but “the people in the pew are hurting, too.”
“Healing the Body of Christ” drew 12,000 participants when Allentown offered it 16 years ago, Bishop Schlert noted. “I don’t know what we’ll get this time. The success is not so much in the concrete number but who came, who felt comfortable to come, and who felt healing in some way,” measurements he acknowledged tend to manifest themselves in the long term.
“All of us are active in church ministry in some form or another,” Renew’s Bober told CNS, and when the latest revelations broke last summer regarding bishops’ roles in the crisis, a common reaction Renew staffers got was, “How can you stay Catholics?”
“We looked around us and we said, ‘We need to do something.’ We know that people are upset, we know people are hurting,” Bober added. “As news broke, we were reading more victims’ stories and we were seeing the power in them, and knowing that, it really made us understand the depth of the hurt that is going on. We wanted to empathize with the victims and for them to do that, we had to include their stories.”
Bober said, “We had (‘Healing Our Church’) small groups running in the office, as things were being written” to test the strength of the material being developed. “We had people within the office, some friends of people who work here from their parishes.” One of them, G. Madsen, a member of Our Lady of Peace Parish in New Providence, New Jersey, wrote in an endorsement for the back cover of “Healing Our Church,” saying that “this six-week program is a positive first step in healing the wounds suffered by faithful Catholics.”
Renew had considered introducing it in the fall, Bober said, but were dissuaded by Bishop Schlert, who wanted it sooner – and his words were used in the book’s foreword: “My people need healing now.”
“I never saw myself as cutting-edge on anything,” Bishop Schlert told CNS. “But my pastors embraced it and said, ‘We’d like to give this a try.’ That’s where the rubber hits the road, in the local parishes.”

Bishop looks forward to serving, being ‘part of God’s church’ in Memphis

Posted on by
Reply

By Catholic News Service
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Bishop David P. Talley, named by Pope Francis March 5 to be the next bishop of Memphis, said that being at a news conference on the day of his appointment marked his fifth visit to Memphis.
“The next time, I come to live with you and love with you and serve with you and to be a part of God’s church with you,” he said.
Bishop Talley, 68, has headed the Diocese of Alexandria, Louisiana, since 2017. He was named coadjutor in 2016 and automatically succeeded Bishop Ronald P. Herzog when he retired. A former auxiliary bishop of Atlanta, Bishop Talley will be installed as the sixth bishop of Memphis April 2.

Bishop David Talley wears a University of Memphis hat March 5, 2019, as he is introduced as the bishop of Memphis at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Memphis. He will be installed April 2. (CNS photo/Rick Musacchio, Tennessee Register)

Bishop Talley’s new appointment came just over four months after Pope Francis forced Bishop Martin D. Holley to step down as bishop of Memphis.
Joining Bishop Talley at the news conference were Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, who was named apostolic administrator of the diocese after Bishop Holley’s resignation in October 2018, and Nashville Bishop J. Mark Spalding.
Archbishop Kurtz said Bishop Talley brings to Memphis a “wealth of experience” as pastor and bishop, and “most importantly, he brings the heart of a pastor and a sterling reputation as a good shepherd.”
“It’s a wonderful appointment for the Diocese of Memphis, and I can’t wait to work with him on the issues concerning the state of Tennessee,” Bishop Spalding said.
Born Sept. 11, 1950, in Columbus, Georgia, Bishop Talley was raised a Southern Baptist and decided to become a Catholic while a student at Auburn University in Alabama. He was received into the church when he was 24. He was ordained a priest of the Atlanta Archdiocese in 1989.
Bishop Talley received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Auburn University and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Georgia. He worked as a social worker for several years before becoming a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, studying at St. Meinrad School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Indiana. He also has a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
He was presiding over confirmations Feb. 9 when he received a call from Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio, Bishop Talley said at the news conference.
When Archbishop Pierre informed him of his new appointment, “I was in shock. I said yes immediately to the Holy Father and his nuncio. But I was reeling,” Bishop Talley said. “I had been in Alexandria for two-and-a-half years and we were just getting our wings.
“He heard my shock,” the bishop said, and Archbishop Pierre suggested he call Archbishop Kurtz, who is the metropolitan for the province of Louisville, which includes the three dioceses of Tennessee and the four of Kentucky.
“From that day, he’s done everything he can to support me and prepare me for this day. So publicly today I want to thank Archbishop Kurtz,” Bishop Talley said.
Bishop Talley also thanked Pope Francis and Archbishop Pierre. “He loves our bishops,” he said of the apostolic nuncio.
The new Memphis bishop said he had not yet visited the Memphis grave of Sister Thea Bowman, who is being considered for sainthood, “But I will.”
He also pledged to visit the National Civil Rights Museum in the Lorraine Hotel, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. “From the time I was a tiny little Baptist boy, Dr. King was a hero of mine,” Bishop Talley said. “He was then, he is now. He is a mentor for me about how you take the Gospel into the streets to bring about justice.” Bishop Talley takes over a diocese demoralized after the two-year tenure of Bishop Holley, who was forced to resign by Pope Francis for mismanagement.
According to a report in the Commercial Appeal, Memphis’ daily newspaper, Bishop Talley promised to begin healing the diocese by listening.
The paper quoted him as saying, “Usually, when people have gone under crisis or stress and it’s held in and not expressed, there is tension and stress in that. I don’t come here to fix anything. We have a Savior and he brings us together. My work is to be one instrument of his.”
The Diocese of Memphis comprises 10,682 square miles. Out of a total population of over 1.5 million, about 60,320, or 4 percent, are Catholic.
It was established in 1971, carved out of the Diocese of Nashville, which before then included the entire state of Tennessee.
The Diocese of Memphis includes the western third of the state, roughly between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers.

(Contributing to this story were staff members of the Tennessee Register, newspaper of the Diocese of Nashville.)

Parishes calendar of events

Posted on by
Reply

SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT
CULLMAN, Ala. – Benedictine Sisters Retreat Center, Weekend Intensive Centering Prayer, April 11-14, develop further the discipline of Centering Prayer and deepen your relationship with God. There will be extended periods of Centering Prayer and shared Lectio Divina. The weekend will be spent in silence. This retreat will begin on Thursday evening and conclude on Sunday with the noon meal. Retreat Directors: Contemplative Outreach Birmingham staff. Prerequisite: Introduction to Centering Prayer Cost: private room $330. Details: (256) 734-8302, retreats@shmon.org or www.shmon.org.
Holy Week at the Monastery, April 18-21 – Holy Thursday through Easter. Experience the three days of the Sacred Triduum immersed in the beauty of Sacred Heart Monastery, joining the Sisters in their silence and in their prayer as they celebrate the special liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday. Limited enrollment; Silence. Cost: private room $245; shared room $205/person. Details: (256) 734-8302, retreats@shmon.org or www.shmon.org.

PARISH, SCHOOL AND FAMILY EVENTS

BATESVILLE St. Mary, Save the Date, Springfest 2019, May 17-19. Details: church office (662) 563-2273.
BROOKHAVEN St. Francis, Knights of Columbus White Elephant Sale, Saturday, April 6, 7-11 a.m. in Serio Hall. Donations can be dropped off on Wednesday, April 3, 5-7 p.m. Contact a Knight member for large item pickup. Details: church office (601) 833-1799.
BRANDON 2019 Knights of Columbus State Convention Golf Tournament, Friday, April 26, Bay Point Golf Course, 8 a.m., four-Man scramble shotgun start. Cost is $65 per player, includes refreshments and lunch. Proceeds will support the Retired Priest Fund. Details: visit www.kofc-ms.org/convention/2019.
CLARKSDALE St. Elizabeth, Gospel of St. Luke Bible study, Wednesdays at noon in the meeting room. Details: contact Libby Antici (662) 624-4301.
HERNANDO Holy Spirit, Forgiveness Walk, Wednesday, March 27, from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. The walk is a silent meditative prayer journey reflecting on your own. Forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts we can give. Details: church office (662) 429-7851.
Lenten Talk, Thursday, March 28, at 7 p.m. with Father Greg Schill, SCJ. Details: church office (662) 429-7851.
JACKSON St. Richard, Save the Date, Cardinal Men’s Cub Flight to the Finish XI 5K run and walk on Saturday, May 4. Details: church office (601) 366-2335.
MADISON St. Francis of Assisi, Good Friday Live Way of the Cross plans are underway. Volunteers are needed to portray various roles and help behind the scenes. Join us as we reflect on Jesus’ last footsteps. Details: Amy Hornback ahornback@mdot.ms.gov or call the church office (601) 856-5556.
NATCHEZ St. Mary Basilica and Assumption, Blood Drive, Thursday, March 28, O’Connor Family Life Center, 12:30 – 5:30 p.m. Details: sign up at www.bloodhero.com (sponsor code: stmarynatchez) or Regina at the church office (601) 445-5616.
Cathedral School, Save the Date, 35th Annual Cathedral Crawfish Countdown, Friday, April 26, 6-10 p.m. at Cathedral School Cafeteria. Details: school office (601) 442-1988.
SOUTHAVEN Christ the King, Seder Meal, Monday, April 15, at 6:30 p.m. for all Sacred Heart parishes. Details: (662) 342-1073.

YOUTH BRIEFS

CLARKSDALE St. Elizabeth, see the Memphis Grizzlies and hear Sadie Robertson speak, Sunday, April 7 at 5 p.m. Cost: $15 per person plus money for food. Details: (662) 624-4301.
Alive in You Mission Trip, July 9-14 in St. Louis. Cost is $325 per person. There will be fundraising done for the trip. Details: (662) 624-4301.
JACKSON St. Richard Special Kids Art Show Saturday, April 6, 5-7 p.m. in Foley Hall at St. Richard. Details: 601-366-2335.
Sr. Thea Bowman School, 13th Annual Draw Down, Saturday, April 27, at 6:30 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Building. Good food, entertainment, silent auction and door prizes. Grand prize: $5,000. Tickets are $100 and second chance insurance is $20. Details: Shae Robinson at the school office (601) 352-5441.
GREENVILLE Sacred Heart, youth retreat, Saturday, April 13, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at Locus Benedictus, Greenwood for teens grades 7-12 for the entire deanery are invited to attend. Details: church office (662) 332-0891.
MADISON St. Francis of Assisi, Breakfast with Jesus for all First Communion children, Sunday, April 7, 9-11:45 a.m. Details: church office (601) 856-5556.

Diocese of Jackson releases list of credibly accused clergy, brothers

Posted on by
Reply

JACKSON – This report contains the names of all clergy and lay religious credibly accused of sexual abuse of which the Diocese of Jackson is aware. An accusation is considered credible when it has been investigated, presented to our Independent Fitness Review Board and deemed to be specific and believable. Civil authorities determine if an accusation is a crime. Not everyone on this list was charged or convicted of a crime.
None of these men are still in active ministry.
The list includes the names of the priests, a list of locations where they served, when the abuse is reported to have happened and when it was reported to the diocese. You may notice a gap between the abuse date and the reporting date. The diocese may not have been aware of the abuse before a priest was moved to another parish. Not all victims report their abuse right away. This is why the work the church is doing to remove the stigma of reporting is so critical.
The sooner we know about an allegation, the sooner we can take action to protect those vulnerable to abuse.
In a few cases, psychologists of that time treated a priest and deemed him safe to go back into ministry. While the science of that time believed such treatment could be effective, we now know this is not the case; and every priest, deacon, lay employee or volunteer who abuses a minor today will be permanently removed from ministry.
When the diocese receives new credible reports, those are presented to the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services, law enforcement or the district attorney in the place where the abuse is alleged to have taken place.
You may also notice reports from what is now the Diocese of Biloxi. The Diocese of Jackson once encompassed the entire state. In 1977, the state was divided into two dioceses: Jackson and Biloxi. The Diocese of Jackson holds the archives from the beginnings of both dioceses and so any case from the Diocese of Biloxi from before 1977 will appear as part of the history of the Diocese of Jackson. The Diocese of Jackson has records for close to 1,000 priests who served here during its 180-year history. This investigation examined the files dating back to 1924.
All new credible reports of abuse will be added to the version of this list posted to the diocesan website.
If you have been abused by a member of the clergy or an employee of the church, we want to hear from you. Contact our Victim’s Assistance Coordinator Valerie McClellan at (601) 326-3728.

CLICK HERE FOR LIST

Letter from Bishop Joseph Kopacz

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Friends in Christ,
This week the Diocese of Jackson released the names of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. It is our hope and prayer that releasing these names will confirm our commitment to transparency in the pursuit of our Promise to Protect and our Pledge to Heal the harm caused by abuse in the church. The list was posted on the diocesan website and is printed inside this Mississippi Catholic on pages 6-7.
We know that this list will cause pain to many individuals and communities and I am truly, deeply sorry for that pain. The crime of abuse of any kind is a sin, but the abuse of children and vulnerable adults is especially egregious. First and foremost, it is a sin against the innocent victims, but also a sin against the Church and our communities. It is a sin that cries out for justice.
The time for trying to keep these cases quiet in the church has come to an end. We now know that this deep wound in the Body of Christ will not heal until we lay bare the sins of the past and work together toward reconciliation. Releasing this list is not the end of a process, it is another step forward in the ongoing effort to reform our church.
In addition to the list, look for additional information about how our Office of Child Protection and Safe Environments is working to screen and educate employees and volunteers as well as educating children and families in self-protection, in hopes of preventing abuse in the future.
The majority of the cases on our list are from the past. This does not make them any less hurtful or significant, but it does indicate that the measures the Church and the Diocese of Jackson have put into place to prevent abuse are having an positive impact.
We know it can still take years for a victim to come forward. We want to hear from those who have been abused by a member of the clergy or an employee of the church. Not only is it our legal duty to report these cases, helping victims find healing and wholeness is our moral imperative. Anyone can contact our Victim’s Assistance Coordinator Valerie McClellan at (601) 326-3728 to seek help.
Again, I apologize from the depths of my heart to those who have been sexually abused by clergy and church personnel, to the families damaged by these crimes and to the Catholic community for the scandal this scourge has brought upon our Church. There is no room for this evil in our society or our churches.
It is my hope that the release of this list during the penitential season of Lent will remind us to pray for all those impacted by abuse and recommit all of us to the Promise to Protect and the Pledge to Heal.
Yours in Christ,

Most Rev. Joseph R. Kopacz
Bishop Diocese of Jackson

Abuse protocols in place since ’02

Posted on by
Reply

JACKSON – Bishop Joseph Kopacz speaks to the media on Tuesday, March 19, about the release of the names of clergy and ministers accused of abuse. (Photos by Tereza Ma)

By Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON – Surveys show that many Catholics are unaware of the steps that the bishops have taken since 2002 to prevent child abuse and to monitor its own performance.
In 2002, the U.S. bishops first approved their “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” to spell out protocols for how U.S. Catholic dioceses and eparchies must address sex abuse.
The charter, which is revised regularly, spells out strict procedures for removing from ministry those credibly accused of abusing minors. It also called for training children and all adults who work with them in church and school settings to recognize and appropriately handle possible sexual abuse, and created diocesan and national mechanisms for monitoring compliance.
The charter established the position of victim assistance coordinator in every diocese and eparchy “to coordinate assistance for the immediate pastoral care of persons who report having been sexually abused as minors by clergy or other church personnel.” The coordinator in the Diocese of Jackson is Valerie McClellan.
The charter directs action in:
– Creating a safe environment for children and young people.
– Healing and reconciliation of victims and survivors.
– Making prompt and effective response to allegations.
– Cooperating with civil authorities.
– Disciplining offenders.
The charter mandated the creation of the Office (now Secretariat) of Child and Youth Protection, which assists office assists “in the consistent application of principles” adopted by the charter and provides “a vehicle of accountability and assistance” to dioceses and eparchies. Vickie Carollo heads this office in the Diocese of Jackson.
In 2002, the bishops also established the lay-run National Review Board, to monitor implementation of the charter. Francesco Cesareo has been the board’s chairman since 2013. He is president of Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts.
The full text of the U.S. bishops charter can be found in English and Spanish, respectively, at https://bit.ly/2QNZgh5 and https://bit.ly/2WWBnH4.
Under the charter, each diocese and eparchy undergo an annual audit to ensure compliance with it. Each audit report includes recommendations for corrective action where shortcomings are discovered.
Last June, the 15th annual report on implementation of the charter showed a decrease in allegations of clergy sex abuse from the two previous years but also indicated the need for continued vigilance since charges were raised by more than 650 adults and 24 minors.
The audit also showed that dioceses/eparchies provided outreach and support to 1,905 victims/survivors; training on abuse prevention and safe environment was provided to more than 4.1 million children and more than 56,000 priests, deacons and candidates for ordination; and background checks have been administered to 97 to 99 percent of all adults serving in ministry with children.
“That’s no small feat,” Cesareo told attendees at the Child and Youth Protection Catholic Leadership Conference in New Orleans last June. “Yet, we are not finished. We can never be finished.”
During the U.S. bishops’ general fall assembly in Baltimore in November, Cesareo called for broadening the scope of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” to include bishops. He also urged publishing complete lists of credibly accused clergy in all dioceses; improving the audit process; and enhancing accountability for bishops regarding cases of abuse.