Published: April 16, 2008 09:48 pm            

Pope tackles issue of clergy sex abuse, calls on bishops to lead by example

WASHINGTON — There were no harsh words, no scolding from the pulpit.

But the message Pope Benedict XVI delivered to the nation's Roman Catholic leaders after evening worship Wednesday was stark: Bishops had mishandled the church's response to clergy sex abuse _ and they've only just started making up for it.

"There is kind of an implicit rebuke for the bishops in the sense of, 'How could this be allowed to happen?'" said James Hitchcock, a Catholic historian from St. Louis University who has written extensively about the church in the modern world. "He probably saw the necessity of doing it but I think it also indicates he feels very strongly about it."

As is often the case with papal comments, Benedict made the point indirectly, in remarks before hundreds of American bishops in the Immaculate Conception shrine.

He said he agreed with a comment in a preceding speech by Chicago Cardinal Francis George that the crisis was "sometimes very badly handled."

He went on to acknowledge the extensive reforms the bishops have enacted in the last several years to protect children and keep predators out of parishes. And he noted that abuse was a "scourge" in every part of society, not just in the church.

But he also spoke at some length to describe the bishops' duty to heal the wounds they partly caused.

It is their "God-given duty" to reach out lovingly to victims, Benedict said.

Bishops must restore morale in the priesthood, he said, comparing the pain and embarrassment of innocent clergy to "Christ in his Passion." And he told the bishops that they must "lead by example," living lives "in a manner closely configured to Christ."

It was the most direct commentary on the crisis ever from the highest level of the church.

"The pope always uses very diplomatic and polite language. He is not going to wag his finger at either the bishops or the president," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, author of "Inside the Vatican" and senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. "But you read between the lines and it's an acknowledgment that the bishops didn't do a good job."

Advocates for victims have complained bitterly that no bishops have been disciplined for failing to warn parents and police about abusers. Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in 2002 after files were unsealed showing that guilty priests had been allowed to remain in parishes.

Russell Shaw, a former spokesman for the U.S. Bishops and a consultant to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said Benedict cannot "engage in wholesale firings" of bishops. But Shaw said the pope's remarks over the last two days underscore that he wants church leaders to do better.

"You do your best to get them to see how things ought to be done and you give them encouragement and give them a bit of criticism in public and private," Shaw said. "Then you tell them, 'Now try again, and maybe you'll get it right in the future.' I think that's what he's doing."

Phil Saviano, a Boston resident who was molested by a priest as a young boy, said he hoped parishioners who have been unsympathetic or hostile to victims would hear what the pope said.

Saviano, 55, first began speaking publicly about being abused in 1992, when few victims would do so. At that time, calling attention to the problem was considered by many Catholics a betrayal.

Resentment of victims has grown in some dioceses as the costs related to abuse have surpassed $2 billion (euro1.26 billion) for American dioceses in the past several years.

Still, Saviano said it would have been much more effective if Benedict had made the comments in Boston, where the crisis erupted in 2002 with the case of a serial abuser. The pope will visit Washington and New York, holding stadium Masses in both cities, before ending his trip on Sunday.

"I read somewhere this week that there are 3,000 people from Boston traveling to New York to see this guy," Saviano said. "If he was really serious about the issue, that Mass would not be held in New York. It would be held here in Boston."

On his flight to the U.S. from Rome, the pope said he was deeply ashamed of the scandal and would fight to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood.

Nicholas Cafardi, a canon lawyer and an original member of the National Review Board, the lay panel the U.S. bishops created to monitor reform efforts in the wake of the scandal, said Benedict's repeated mentions of the problem could be a sign of change ahead in the worldwide church.

Clergy sex abuse has become a public issue in Canada, Ireland, Australia and elsewhere. The pope may be considering making it easier to oust abusive Catholic clergy everywhere.

"I'm hoping that he's signaling that he's prepared to change the current canon law that priests who are sexual abusers, especially the abusers of children, will no longer be able to exercise their ministry," said Cafardi, dean emeritus of Duqesne University Law School and author of, "Before Dallas: The U.S. Bishops' Response to Clergy Sexual Abuse of Children."

Anne Burke, an Illinois judge and former leader of the National Review Board, said she is encouraged that Benedict has made such a strong emphasis on the crisis early in the trip. Burke has said that she believes bishops are not as committed to change as they were at the height of the scandal.

"If bishops put their head in the sand," she said, "American Catholics will never trust them again."

        

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