Rhode Island lawmakers are wrestling with how to deal with decades of Roman Catholic clergy abuse of minors. At issue is legislation that would expand from seven to 35 years the statute of limitations to pursue legal claims against child predators and institutions that employed them and ignored the abuse.
At a hearing last week, adult victims testified in favor of the measure. The stories are by now all-too-familiar, sad and infuriating. The 66-year old sister of a lawmaker spoke of the horror of a priest raping her with a crucifix. An East Greenwich doctor told about being molested repeatedly by a priest when he was a child.
Neither Bishop Tobin nor the church’s lobbyist spoke at the Statehouse hearing, but the Rhode Island Catholic Conference opposes the bill and submitted a lengthy argument outlining why the time for legal claims should not be extended.
Among the reasons: It would be unfair to apply today’s standards to yesterday’s conduct. ”The understanding of child abuse in the mid 1960s was not remotely comparable to the understanding of the problem today,” stated the memo.
The memo also stated that the legislation, ”may encourage plaintiffs to intentionally delay claims” until evidence has been spoiled “or witnesses have died.” The Catholic church is not the only powerful agency or religious organization that has dealt with employee child abuse. But it is the most influential.
This scourge has also infected other institutions in society, including prep schools affiliated with Protestant churches, including St. George’s School in Middletown and such groups as the Boy Scouts. Yet these other institutions are not opposing the expansion of the time limitation.
The legislative hearing came on the heels of an historic summit in Rome convened by Pope Francis on church sex abuse. On social media, Tobin asked rhetorical questions, saying, “Is sexual abuse caused by gay currents in the church, or rampant clericalism, or episcopal malfeasance, or poor seminary formation, or the sinful condition of fallen mankind. Yes. All of the above.” He also asked Catholics to pray for the “spiritual renewal” of the church, which he said “begins with me.”
Yet the bishop has yet to address, specifically and publicly, the long, sordid history of clergy abuse and the secrecy surrounding it. He has pledged to release a list of Rhode Island clergy who have been credibly accused of abuse, but a church spokeswoman says there is no timetable for making the list public.
Over the centuries, the Catholic Church has done great things in New England. The church has long been a fulcrum in assimilating generations of immigrants to our shores, beginning with the Irish in the 19th Century and continuing with a new wave of Spanish-speaking arrivals. Hospitals, social service agencies, schools and such institutions as Providence College, Boston College, Holy Cross and Salve Regina were all built by the church. For Catholics, the church has been a place of succor and strength through wars, depressions and the family milestones of birth, marriage and death. Nuns and priests have been the bedrock of communities.
All this was done despite –particularly in the early years in this country—withering discrimination from native Protestants. More recently, the twin gusts of materialism and secularism have challenged the church’s divinity and Christian message.
But the clergy abuse scandals have done deep damage to the church. For decades, church leaders turned a blind eye to evidence of childhood sexual abuse by priests. In Rhode Island, it wasn’t until 2002 that state courts punctured the secrecy surrounding personnel decisions by the Catholic Church. For years the church claimed that such information was protected by a “clergy penitent” privilege.
Later in both Boston and Providence came disclosures of top church officials covering up decades of abuse. Over the years, clergy leaders announced “no tolerance’ policies and paid millions in settlements to victims.
Now, even Pope Francis is pushing for transparency in sex abuse cases. But the lack of coming clean about past abuse cuts the credibility of Catholic leaders. Last week, Vermont’s top Catholic leader, Bishop Christopher Coyne, was asked why he didn’t testify about abortion legislation at the legislature.
Coyne said, “If I was to go down to the Statehouse the first thing someone would come out with is, “You have no rights to lecture us about moral law given what the church did to children.”
On this issue, church leaders, including Bishop Tobin, should do no less than heed the word of Jesus Christ, who said, “The truth will set you free.”
Scott MacKay’s commentary can be heard every Monday morning at 6:45 and 8:45 and at 5:44 in the afternoon, You can also follow his reporting and analysis at our web site at ThePublic’sRadio.org
