| > back | Bishop's Statements Letter on Bishop’s Policy on Sexual Abuse Dear Friends, Nearly two weeks have passed since I last wrote to you in the letter that was inserted into your parishes’ Sunday bulletins. In that letter, I asked for your prayers that the Holy Spirit would guide the deliberations of the bishops of the United States, who met in Dallas from June 13-15. I thank you for your prayers and for all of the support I personally received from so many of you. As you already know, on Friday, June 14, the bishops voted to adopt the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (“Charter”) and the Essential Norms for Diocesan Policies Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests, Deacons, or Other Church Personnel (“Essential Norms”). These will form the policy and practice of every diocese in this country. Even as we await the formal recognition of the Holy See, the bishops have agreed that these norms are immediately effective in each of their dioceses; therefore, they have the force of law in the Diocese of San José. We will now begin the process of implementation. I look forward to working with the Task Force in incorporating the Norms into our existing sexual abuse policies. When I traveled to Dallas, my objective was clear: the protection of children and young people from all forms of sexual abuse by priests, deacons, and all other Church personnel, whether they are employees or volunteers. It was necessary that the members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops acted as we did. In agreeing that “for even a single act of sexual abuse of a minor past, present, or future the offending priest or deacon will be permanently removed from ministry” [Charter, Article 5], we also made it clear that the Church in the United States will not tolerate any form of sexual abuse of minors by any Church personnel [cf. Essential Norms, #7]. I realize that some people, especially some victims/survivors and their family members, may not be satisfied with the Charter as the bishops have enacted it. They would seek to have any offending priest or deacon returned to the lay state. Although this remains an option in dealing with offenders, I truly believe that such action, if applied in all cases, could actually have the potential for inflicting further harm on the vulnerable members of society. When a priest or deacon has returned to the lay state, his diocese or Religious congregation is no longer obliged to offer him supervision, therapy, medication and other forms of support. Removing a priest from all ministry in the Church and forbidding him to wear priestly garb and identifying himself in public as a priest is in itself a serious and severe sanction. This is true because a priest’s identity is so inextricably bound to his public ministry of celebrating the liturgy and the sacraments and in the performance of other pastoral service. As we move forward, we must commit ourselves to working together so that our application of this Charter and its Essential Norms will strengthen our efforts and guide us in our determination to ensure that every person in our diocese children and young people in particular will be safe and protected from all forms of sexual abuse. I join my brother bishops in pledging to you what we stated in the conclusion of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People:
We make these pledges with a humbling sense of our own limitation, relying on the help of God and the support of his faithful priests and people to work with us to fulfill them. I thank you, once again, for your prayers in these difficult days. I also want to offer my heartfelt thanks to the victims and survivors who have come forward in recent months, for in doing so they have enabled us to recognize and address this horrific problem and to begin the process of healing. Realizing that I cannot fully appreciate the depth of their pain and suffering, I have nevertheless come to a deepened sense of the hurt that they continue to endure. As your bishop, I offer my profound apology for this, and my commitment to do everything in my power to protect all of the vulnerable persons of our diocese. Finally, I extend my apologies to those priests and other Church ministers who have served faithfully and who have suffered greatly because of this scandal. Your faithful service remains a cause for rejoicing, and I join our people in expressing their gratitude to you for all that you do. With every best wish and kind regard, I remain, |
