Dear Pope Francis: We cry out for justice for victims and accountability for the clergy

Janine Geske

Dear Pope Francis,

Thank you for your empathetic responses to victims of clergy abuse. As a restorative justice practionner, I work with many such victims. I have watched you be pastoral, kind and good to survivors. After you erroneously did not believe Chilean victims of abuse (both by priests and by the bishops who oversaw the clergy), you were willing to revisit the issue, investigate the claims and ultimately apologize to the victims. You appointed an international papal Commission For Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults from sexual abuse, chaired by Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. This commission is charged to make recommendations to create procedures, safeguards and structures to ensure that the Catholic Church is seriously addressing the problems of sexual abuse and preventing future harm. You continue to speak out about the Church’s special need for protection of children.

But we are slowly learning of problems with the commission. People resign, recommendations are not adopted and progress is delayed. Now we learn of abuse allegations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and a grand jury report of another 1,000 survivors in Pennsylvania. We seem to be going backward rather than forward in rebuilding the trust in the moral authority of the Church.

Our faith has been shaken. The moral leadership of the Church has become weaker and less credible. Catholics are angry, confused and desiring accountability from its hierarchy.

How can this institution that is the basis of a faith held by so many diverse people have been both so reckless with the lives of children and intentionally harmful in the handling of sex offenders? You have described the conduct by stating “We showed no care for the little ones. We abandoned them.” The Church also abandoned the older kids who were abused, their families and friends and ultimately the entire Catholic community. The deep harm of sexual abuse ripples through people’s lives, forever altering how they feel about themselves and others.

Some of the responses by Church authorities are shameful.

Syracuse Bishop Robert Cunningham testified during a deposition that the children can have culpability when they are assaulted by a priest. Blaming the victim for a sexual assault by an adult in a position of trust is none other than revictimizing that victim by the institutional Church. He later said he did not mean what he said.

Just this week, Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison wrote a letter blaming sexual abuse of boys on tolerance for homosexuality. He apparently has no understanding of the difference between a sexual assault of a child and a consensual adult interaction. His premise also, obviously, discounts the many assaults of females by male priests and the assaults of very young children.

And the president of the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, tries to "debunk” the Pennsylvania grand jury report in part by saying many of the assaults did not involve actual penetrations and that many of the victims were teenagers. Donohue cannot have listened to survivors talk about their experiences as I have. Molestation by a “beloved” person representing the church has a devastating impact on children including teenagers. He is dead wrong in trying to minimize this criminal behavior by religious. And then when survivors trusted the institutional church to address these sexual crimes, people in authority hid the crimes, protected the offenders and left the victims defenseless to address the harm.

Pope Francis, we need a clear and distinct Church position that “Abusing a child by a member of a religious order or one in a position of trust is always wrong and the fault of the perpetrator.” Just as importantly, those in greater positions of authority need to be held to a high standard of protection of those children and hold abusers publicly accountable.

It is time for the Church to show that it has concrete remedies for these betrayals. How will there be enforcement of the Church’s values and how will punishments be effectively delivered?

You have spoken with real compassion and understanding. You have reached out to victims and their families. You have been our Pastor in Chief. But where are you on protection for children in the future? How will you ensure the safety of children — not only from the sexual predator priests but from bishops and cardinals who would rather hide these sins that protect future victims?

As we read about how hundreds of priests in Pennsylvania were moved, hidden, or worse, reassigned where they could go on to molest more children, or when we read about how Cardinal McCarrick allegedly abused many children and his position of trust, we cry out for justice.

How will the Church respond?

It is not enough to say how terrible this was. The Church must quickly act to hold the decision makers responsible for their choices and to make clear to others that there is no tolerance for those in authority who abuse their privileged positions.

Janine Geske is a retired justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.