US bishops happy for Spotlight to be shone on sex abuse in the Catholic Church

The US church still stands ready to help the victims of clergy sexual abuse, according to the head of the US Bishops' Committee on Child and Youth Protection.

Bishop Edward J. Burns of Juneau, Alaska, said that the new film about abuse in Boston in 2002 still rightly shine a spotlight on the errors that the church in America has made, and will keep them working to make it right.

"Victims of abuse have helped us see the errors of the past," Bishop Burns told the Catholic News Service. "It's important that we assist them in the healing process.

"We express our gratitude for the way they've called us to look at ourselves, and see that there is a need to change, to be contrite, and to assist in the healing process. It's important that we continue to work together in order to be sure that there is a safe environment within the church, and that we never grow lax in assuring that all our children are safe."

He cited background checks for close to 99 per cent of the diocesan and religious priests and deacons, and safe environment instruction for 92 pe rcent of the estimated 4.4 million children who have been enrolled in Catholic educational programs.

"What needs to be done? We need to get to 100 per cent," Bishop Burns said.

His words come after a bankruptcy ruling stamped a plan for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to pay $21 million to 355 abuse survivors and set up a $500,000 therapy fund for victims.

 

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The archdiocese was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011 because of the weight of the claims against it.

One of the most significant allegations is that Rev Lawrence Murphy, a priest who taught at the former St John School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, molested up to 200 boys between 1950 and the 1970s.

In 1974, he admitted to sexually abusing the boys, but died in 2005 before his canonical trial could be completed.

Archbishop of Milwaukee Jerome Listecki said in a statement to the court this week: "I apologise to the victims and their families for what they endured under these clergy who exercised criminal and immoral behavior. There is no resolution that will ever bring back what the victims have lost and their families have suffered."

Bishop Burns said he was happy to see the new film, Spotlight, directed by Tom McCarthy, which tells the story of the Boston Globe newspaper's coverage of sex abuse by priests in Massachusetts in 2002, shine a spotlight on the practice of covering up sex scandals in the Roman Catholic church in the US.

The investigations led to a swathe of accusations across the country. It has received a positive reception from Catholic leaders since it opened last week.

"I've heard some wonderful acclaims for how well it's presented and how well it's been produced," Bishop Juneau said, but "I'm not looking forward to watching it, because I know the topic is heart-wrenching".

From left: Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Darcy James, Michael Keaton and John Slattery in the film Spotlight, which was released in the US last week (PA)

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Bishop Burns, then the executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, said he was working as staff when the bishops met in Dallas in 2002, when the abuse crisis was part of the national conversation.

"I still remember the frenzy of media surrounding the hotel and the anxiety of the bishops in addressing this issue, as well as the opportunity for the bishops to hear from the victims of abuse during their general session," he said.

"I remember it being very poignant, very direct. The bishops recognised at that point that they needed to collectively take action."

What resulted was the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People." Since its adoption in 2002, the charter was revised in 2005 and 2011.

 

 

"The Dallas charter has laid clear how we are to respond whenever there is a credible allegation of sexual abuse by anyone in the church," Bishop Burns said, adding the "zero tolerance" principle was put into place with the charter.

To Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, the culture change is too little, too late.

"I think the church is safer today" because of the "diligent work" of reporters like those at the Boston Globe as well as abuse victims who came forward, said Blaine, who herself had been abused by a priest.

 

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But "those of us who have come forward are just the tip of the iceberg and I think victims today are still treated as though we are the enemy," Ms Blaine told CNS.

"The Catholic Church only did it [implement change] begrudgingly and belatedly. Most child welfare agencies started demanding fingerprinting and background checks by the mid-80s."

Victims, she said, often cannot trust the institution under whose watch the abuse occurred to take a part in healing their trauma.

Spotlight is due for release in January next year in the UK and Australia.