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In light of the letter it appears that the settlement may have been intended to cover up Weakland’s homosexual attraction for the alleged victim.
Milwaukee has also seen cases of abuse of minors by priests. In at least one such case, people of decent conscience attempted to bring evidence of abuse to the attention of the archdiocese and the archbishop, but were rebuffed. In a terse reply to this effort, the archbishop wrote, in a manner that can only be described as intimidating, “I would note that any libelous material found in your letter will be scrutinized carefully by our lawyers.”
The spirit of cover-up displayed in the payment is akin to the intimidating discouragement toward those seeking to counter the evil deed of priestly abuse. Together, these episodes constitute an extremely disturbing pattern of episcopal behavior. At least in the Weakland case, the pattern suggests the possibility that episcopal shielding of abusive priests may be connected to imperfect integrity of the bishops’ commitment to celibacy and the discipline of faith. Human experience, moral philosophy, and Christian teaching on the infernal tyranny of sin, all suggest that abandoning one’s clerical vows, and then covering up for oneself in such matters, would lead almost irresistibly to covering up for others.
This is hardly what one would expect from the leadership of the Catholic Church, which is supposed to act, of course, in the spirit of Jesus Christ. The Church exists to call people to God, not to damage their relationship with God. Covering up for abusive priests compounds the spiritual harm to victim and perpetrator alike by implicating the authority of the Church in the abuse. Why aren’t the prelates more sensitive to such moral and spiritual damage to human persons and to pastoral leadership?
Perhaps they are beginning to be. Late last week Archbishop Weakland requested, and the Vatican promptly granted, an acceleration of his already requested retirement. The archbishop said he made the request to help the Church “regain its credibility.” Speeding up an already scheduled retirement is not much, but it’s a start.
If integrity is to be restored to the Catholic hierarchy in America, there are other bishops who need to follow, and magnify, this small beginning. Bishops who have facilitated abusive priests, or who have potentially scandalous personal sins in their background, need to take action to spare the Church harm. Saying they are sorry – as Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney did recently – is simply not enough. They need to do visible and open penance for the moral harm that has been done, for the scandal that has been given not in the secular media, but to the faithful. Apologies and penances are not the same, and the Christian tradition has a decided and wise preference for the latter in cases of serious sin. Resignation is the penance that springs immediately to mind in the case of bishops.
The bishops need to start practicing the reconciliation and penance they have been preaching, and to lay out a course of action at their upcoming conference that meets the true requirements of the current crisis. They should start with a call to all those in positions of Church authority in America to examine their consciences with “zero tolerance” and, if necessary, voluntarily to come forward and lay down their commissions before somebody else has to reveal the problem. Such a challenge, issued by the bishops to every priest, nun, sister, brother – and bishop – in America, would be the opportunity for a renewed pledge of fidelity by the Church in America to God and to the faithful.
A certain time should be set out for such a general examination of conscience, and for the dignified and spiritually fruitful voluntary acts of penance that might result. But it should be made clear that, from then on, any serious revelation of moral irresponsibility will result in removal without discussion, without the impression that it is because of outside pressure.
It is the job of bishops, first of all, to do what the Faith requires. In the current crisis, they ought of course to set an example of forgiveness and healing. But it is essential that, at the same time, they set a standard for penance and reconciliation that will help to restore the confidence of the laity and the world in the entrusted authority of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Only thus can they can stand again with integrity for the One they are supposed to represent, who is Jesus Christ.
