Sex Abuse, Cover Up and Church Leadership

...panel and parishioner discussion
Monday, May 20, 2002

Divine Spirit,
There is an ache in our hearts
That stretches like a canyon,
Crying out for all the familiar
Faces and places of yesterday.

A hollow sadness rises in our souls
And presses against our hearts.

We are entering a new land
We are out of place and unsettled,
Yearning for peace and healing
That seems elusive.

We experience disillusionment
That challenges us to new maturity.
We are called to a new resolution
To put aside the ways of the past.

We pray for healing
We seek not to put new wine in old wineskins
But to chart a new course
Of compassion and mercy.

Ever-abiding Life Giver,
Be a source of hope for us this day
As we adjust to a renewed openness and honesty.
Be a spark of joy in our spirits
As we struggle with the pain of growth.

Grant us hopeful eyes to see beyond today
To the time when joy will unfold freely.
Lift up our hearts and show us the way.



The pain and hope evident in Father George’s opening prayer fittingly set the tone for the evening. The panel dealt with questions and comments of pain, fear and hope for over two hours and left me feeling that during these times I could be in no better place than St. Joan of Arc.

The panelist’s were George Wertin, Joan Riebel, and Terry Dosh. Joan is the Executive Director of Family Alternatives, a non-profit agency that does foster care and adoptions. Terry is a Catholic theologian and historian. Terry is also a married priest.

After a little background history and comments from the panel, attendees we’re invited to take the microphone to ask questions or state concerns over the recent events in our church. Well, as anyone who knows St Joan of Arc, you can rightly assume they weren’t shy!

I’m going to offer here some of their questions and then follow them with the panelist’s responses in hope that I can impart a bit of the electricity that permeated the room that evening:

In response to a question on the Issue of celibacy as a cause the panelists had this to say:


Terry Dosh

Gary Wills, in his book “The Aura of Celibacy” is convinced that the “aura” is what separates the Priest from everybody else. It also makes him psychologically superior to other people. lt’s not just the clerical culture… but also from the other side; the laity (pardon the expression) keep this going because they support the lifestyle.

So the argument against celibacy, or rather, one of the most convincing ones is this particular one Wills points out. …that the priest that’s married comes from the community, not just parachuting in, and to me that person is healthy…. and that will take away significantly the superiority, separateness.

Joan Riebel

I would agree with you that the issue is not celibacy in and of itself but I do think that the celibacy culture and the celibacy mandate feeds the psychological…the superiority…the power over …and it keeps the system closed. I thinks anytime you have a closed system… anytime you have a system that makes one person more important that anybody else it just kind of feeds that image. I don’t think celibacy causes it…it’s a complex kind of issue and I think that opening the priesthood up to women and people that are married ….is really going to eliminate some of that “power over them” culture.

A question from Kathy ... I really have had a lot of thoughts going around in my head for the last month since all this broke. I feel the greater the trust the bigger the betrayal has been for me and that how can a church that I loved and grew up in. …and um…. how can I trust again when they are supposed to be the shepherds of the people. I think that in any dysfunctional system whether it’s a family or a corporation or the church, … it is secrecy…that conspiracy of silence that is important to keep the power and I think that its about power and control.

So for myself…it’s really tough to know.. will it be a matter of conscience for me…can I support a church that has turned their back on our children and can I continue to give money to a church that has not protected our children… and … I was thinking the other day…I thought…you know I love SJA … I wish we had a fund that we could give money to SJA and the charities and the social justice part …. I do not want to give money to the Archdiocese. I will give money to the Catholic Charities. It’s getting to be a moral question for me. It’s like being taxed when you don’t agree with some of the things that the government is doing. So I have questions… and. …and fears.



George Wertin

Well, all I can say is to the best of my knowledge right now the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is not paying out any money in these cases. Of course, ten years ago when they had the Adamson case there was a substantial settlement that was made and there have been other cases also through the years. I made some inquiries today because I knew this question would come up and to the best of my knowledge that is not the case and of course our Archbishop said monies that were coming from parishes were not being used for this purpose in any case. But there is always the potential for it. But you know the thing is we have to take responsibility for our own decisions.

Terry Dosh

I think the distinction has to be made between the people of God and the institutional church. We’ve had a Copernican Revolution in the church in the last generation … by that I mean we used to see the church as the center of Gods kingdom. Now that institution is.. the church subsists “in” the reign of God. It’s the reign of God that is the goal or aim of our life and the church is simply within that. Until the 4th century the term for the church was “ laos phaeo”, a Greek term meaning “the people of God” and it included all members of the church. From the 4th to the 12th century it separated clerical (cleros) on top and the people on the bottom. Vatican II began to reverse the process. Only 40 years ago.

George Wertin

I just want to respond to something Terry said earlier and that is that it’s interesting that all the bishops want to operate independently in this area, but when it comes to anything regarding leadership in the church in term of teaching … why it’s all controlled from the top down. Everything has been so consolidated and collegiality has been turned into an empty shell of a word because it has to go back to … you'd think the Pope were the Bishop of the world, not just the Bishop of Rome.

A question from Ann Hoops I was deeply disturbed when I saw the news conference after the bishops and cardinals went to Rome to talk with the Pope. I heard them come back and say things like there will be zero tolerance for notorious cases of serial abuse and I started questioning my worship in the Catholic church and my question for the panel is … Do you think there’s any hope that these guys in the red hats are going to “get it?”     (The crowd murmurs “no” several times)


George Wertin

I think we always have to have hope, Ann. (laughter, applause) I seriously think though that we are going to have to have a less complacent set of people in our church. We have to make our voices heard. Some times I feel like I just write off the hierarchy of the church and say I’m not going to be bothered. On the other hand if we are going to see the changes we are going to have to have to make known that we have some things to say. And Terry, I know is EAGER to jump on this one! (lots of laughter)

Terry Dosh

We will know that the Spirit has arrived in the Church when the Pope is either African or Asian… and pregnant! (Laughter and applause) A French theologian told us that one of major reasons for the reformation in the 16th century was the failure of the clergy and laity to raise more hell. We need to ask for three things in the church:
Joan Riebel

One of the things that really brought me hope personally was the wall in Eastern Europe going down. I think it’s an incredible metaphor for us in our day in age when we think that wall went down with no violence. It was the people that took the wall down. I look back on that and am astounded that action happened with no war, no violence and it wasn’t the government that did it. It was the people that did it.

Terry Dosh

Small Lutheran communities in East Germany had a major responsibility for the falling of the wall.

A question from Jo Youngren I wrote a letter to Archbishop Harry Flynn. I told him I was delighted that he came to St. Joan’s but why didn’t he talk about what was on everyone’s mind? He wrote back a very nice letter and he told me that he was “tired of the subject”... (gasps) I asked him if he, as head of the bishops group that’s going to meet in June, shouldn’t have some input from the people about what were thinking? No answer. I asked him if collegiality is only for the hierarchy? And evidently it is. I’m just one person but if everyone wrote him he might be impressed to respond.


George Wertin

One of the things that is so important is to see that the selection of bishops process is being fixed… that’s critical… that would break the system from being so self perpetuating.

Terry Dosh

Referring to a poll done in Austria in 1995 of 550,000 people the number one concern for change was the election of bishops. Why? With that all the rest comes.

A question from Michael I admire Jo’s writing a letter to Harry Flynn. Part of the reason I haven’t is because I don’t think there is any accountability. Maybe it’s my cynicism but if we all wrote letters it wouldn’t force him to do anything. We keep talking about we need to change in ideas around celibacy and who’s accountable but there are lots of other churches that have done it. I’m really struggling with why should I stay and if I should what are we as a parish going to do. There is all this talk of it needs to change people want change but what is the action I can take that’s going to get a response?


George Wertin

That’s the perennial question and important but when you’re a member of a family you don’t want to turn your back on the family. There’s so much in the church that holds us together and can be embellished on… not only relationships but in a sacramental nature. And certainly some people do move on and they need to be respected for that but for some of us that’s not an option.

Joan Riebel

I’m a lifetime catholic. It’s important to me.

Terry Dosh

Our stance should be “defecting in place” don’t mourn… organize! You can’t do it by yourself. You need to be a part.

Joan Riebel

I think some that communal reaction comes out of small Christian community. Think that it starts with grass roots. Have to have conversation. Its part of the process.

A question from Janice Do catholics in other countries care about marriage for priests and gays in the church or is it just us Americans?


George Wertin

It’s happening all over the world. There’s percolation going on all over the place. There are about 35 married priest organizations around the world.

A St. Joan Visitor's Comment:

I for one am never going to leave the church because it is mine!!! And I think you need to find a place where you feel comfortable and supported. And hold on to the hope that all change in the church always comes from us. It doesn’t come from the top. It comes from us!

I think there are two issues here:

  1. pedophilia is a heinous crime and most regard it as an illness, an aberration. It is not normal to seek sexual gratification in the dark with children.
  2. ... and this is where I’m picking up the anger, a cold anger that I’ve never in my life picked up among Catholics before is the anger and the cover-up and at the unwillingness or the inability of our Episcopates to say, “We made terrible mistakes, we beg your forgiveness.”


and
Rick Spaulding is a photographer specializing in digital photography for the theater and works for National Camera Exchange. He is also an antique dealer and eBay afficianado who enjoys collecting marbles but his true joys in life are his two boys and his beautiful wife, Tinia.
I cannot adequately tell you in this space how it felt to be there that night but I can say this; I feel after writing this story and witnessing this discussion that I could not possibly be in a better place than St. Joan of Arc. I feel well protected and guided by our leadership here at St. Joan’s and that we can (and likely will) make a difference!

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