Grand-Jury Reports + McCarrick Charged with a Crime

Soon we will mark the third anniversary of the publication of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report on clerical sex-abuse and cover-up. The report offers the public a window into the corrupt way that the hierarchy of our Church has dealt with these crimes.

When the grand jury published its report, the pope and bishops reacted with embarrassment and dismay. We rank-and-file Catholics, on the other hand, recognized the report for what it was: a gift to our community.

Finally the survivors had their chance to tell their side of the story. Finally we gained a clear insight into exactly how our upper leadership has handled this. That is, very badly.

Shortly after the publication of the Pennsylvania report, our Attorney General here in Virginia announced an investigation into clergy sex abuse in our state. He established a hotline for survivors to call, and his office has worked on mounting criminal prosecutions based on the information they have collected.

I know that a number of clergy-sex abuse survivors, as well as we Catholics in general, have wondered when the A.G.’s office will produce a report like they did in Pennsylvania.

The fact is, however, that we will likely never have a similar report here in Virginia. I did some research to try to understand this.

A state law in Pennsylvania empowers grand juries there to publish their findings, to inform the general public about problems in the community. The investigation conducted by the PA grand jury did not lead to many criminal indictments, since many of the offenders had died. But the investigation exposed the reprehensible conduct not just of abusers, but also the dioceses.

The grand jury recommended changing the statute of limitations for civil suits. Regrettably, that pro-survivor reform has yet to occur in Pennsylvania.

The PA grand jury produced its report because Pennsylvania state law empowered it to do so. It is a legally settled matter there that the damage done to the reputations of malefactors named in grand-jury reports (but never charged with crimes) can be offset by written responses appended to the report. The PA report includes such responses by Church officials.

Here in Virginia, we have no similar law. Grand juries here are not empowered to release reports to inform the public. To the contrary, grand jury investigations conducted in Virginia remain sealed. Their findings can only become available to the public as part of a trial.

For example, this past May, a VA grand jury indicted a former priest on two felony sex-abuse counts. When the accused stands trial, prosecutors will likely introduce some of the grand jury’s findings as evidence.

I know that the VA Attorney General’s office eagerly seeks clergy sex-abuse survivors who want to press charges. There is no criminal statute of limitations in Virginia for the sexual abuse of a minor. The hotline # is (833) 454-9064, or you can click HERE.

(If you have any problems reaching someone through the AG office’s intake system, please contact me directly by making a comment below, and I will help facilitate things.)

Camille Biros and Ken Feinberg

The “Reconciliation Program” that our diocese ran last year was tailor-made to short-circuit criminal prosecutions. Our diocese used $6.3 million given by faithful Catholics over the years, to pay settlements to survivors, in order to reduce their incentive to go to the Attorney General. (That is, in those cases where the perpetrator is still alive.)

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Criminal prosecutions do not fully address the need for accountability that hangs in the balance here. Just like in Pennsylvania, we Virginia Catholics who believe in honesty and justice want to see our institution held accountable for the decades of systematic cover-up. We know that the cover-up has caused as much pain as the original abuse. The crimes are one, very ugly thing. The cover-up is another thing, and equally ugly.

I hope that our Attorney General can figure out a way to give the public something like the PA grand-jury report. Even if it takes some creativity to find a legal way to do so, in our state.

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Theodore McCarrick with the young James Grein

…As I sit writing this, my phone has blown up, as they say.

Theodore McCarrick has been charged with a crime. By police in Massachusetts. Criminal sex abuse. The incident took place in June, 1974.

McCarrick molested the anonymous victim when he was a teenager, at his brother’s wedding. It was not the only time McCarrick sexually abused the boy. The court has summoned McCarrick to appear on August 26.

Wow.

It is likely that the Vatican has known about this crime, and many others like it, for at least three years, and has kept it all secret. (They could have known about it thirty years ago, if they had gone to the trouble to investigate the charges that made their way to them back then.)

All the evidence that Pope Francis had before him, when he defrocked McCarrick in February 2019, has remained secret. Until now. Now, at long last, the survivors of this predator’s abuse might actually get some real justice. Praise God.

Theodore McCarrick ordained me a priest. I am forever grateful for the gift of the priesthood. And I pray for mercy for all of us sinners. But justice must be done, as far as the law allows.

Another Gut Punch Coming, Dear Ones

One year, one week ago, our Virginia Attorney General announced his investigation into criminal child sexual abuse in the Catholic dioceses of our state. The world-famous Pennsylvania Grand-jury Report of August 2018 had spurred him into action.

The two Catholic bishops of Virginia simultaneously announced not only their “full co-operation” with the Attorney General, but also their own internal “investigations.” In February, our diocese of Richmond released a list of names of priests accused of sexual abuse. And created more confusion and disillusionment than before.

As we discussed here in July, the Catholic diocese of Richmond’s record in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse by priests is: conspicuously bad. The way Bishop Walter Sullivan dealt with the victims of Fathers John Leonard, Julian Goodman, and Randy Rule stands out as a genuine national disgrace, a remarkably evil travesty among many, many such evil travesties.

And the Richmond diocese’s February list contained another little neutron bomb: The name Carroll Dozier.

Father Dozier served in our diocese for 34 years, then went on to become the founding bishop of the diocese of Memphis, Tennessee.

This mural of Bishop Carroll Dozier was recently removed from downtown Memphis, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Tom Lee

Dozier is our own little Ricmond-diocese McCarrick. It would appear that Dozier became a bishop after the diocese of Richmond secretly settled at least one abuse claim against him.

…Cardinal Dolan of New York appeared on CBS This Morning yesterday, repeating the mafia party line: “We fixed this problem in 2002.” Not true, because…

1. Innumerable victims of pre-2002 abuses have yet to receive any justice. The people crying with cathartic abandon at the August 2018 Pennsylvania press conference, announcing the release of the grand-jury report–they knew all too well that the Church had not fixed the problem in 2002. For God’s sake, at that time, the face of the Catholic Church in America was Theodore McCarrick.

2. The 2002 “Dallas Charter” rules are not solid. The recent Colorado Attorney General’s report outlines the problems in detail. Including:

Overall, we found the Denver Archdiocese’s investigative process to be flawed at best, and re-victimizing at worst. (p. 33)

[See footnote below for more illuminating quotes from the Colorado report]

….So, my dearly beloved fellow Virginia Catholics: Get ready for the imminent gut punch of our own state AG’s report.

Mr. Tom Lee–to whom I have referred above and in previous posts–he has worked tirelessly for justice for victims of Richmond-priest abusers. He has graciously shared some “inside” information with me.

The Virginia Attorney General’s Office investigators have rooms full of files. They do not trust the dioceses. They will produce a report that will embarrass the living hell out of the Catholic Church in the state of Virginia.

And rightly so.

The day will come. Soon.

But, please: Let’s see this for what it is, my dear ones. A genuine gift from God.

The report will contain the testimony of sex-abuse survivors who somehow found the clarity and courage to call evil evil. The mitered mafia told them, over and over again, to shush. Now, finally, in Virginia, their testimony will see the light of day.

In the long run, facing the truth will cleanse, purify, and renew the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. This imminent Virginia gut-punch will do us great good. Romans 8:28: All things work for the good for those who love God.

 

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Couple more illuminating quotes from the AG report on the three dioceses of Colorado:

“From this lack of experience, presumably, stem weaknesses manifest in some of the investigations we have seen in the Colorado Springs Diocese priest files. Specifically, investigative team members have intimidated victims during interviews by questioning their faith, asked them nothing but leading questions designed to confirm a predetermined conclusion rather than find facts, expressed bias in favor of the diocese, expressed that their goal is to defend the priest and protect the diocese rather than find facts or care for the victim, and threatened victims with dire consequences if they falsely accuse a priest of child sex abuse. This approach to sexual assault victim interviews is extremely ineffective at determining whether the diocese has an abusive priest from whom its children need to be protected.” (p. 177-178)

“…Another flaw in the Pueblo Diocese’s response practices is its consistent pattern of closing investigations as ‘inconclusive’ unless the accused priest admits the abuse or an independent third-party witness confirms he or she saw it. While the Pueblo Diocese generally conducts very thorough investigations designed to uncover additional witnesses and victims, its application of this standard of proof is not an effective way to determine whether a priest presents a risk to children… Indeed, it can potentially lead to an active abuser staying in ministry without restriction. The standard should be ‘if there is a risk to children, restrict access to them.’ That standard would be more consistent with the Pueblo Diocese’s public statements about safety and child protection. (p. 198-199)