It has been more than two decades since the Boston Globe investigation into the Roman Catholic Church revealed that scores of priests had sexually molested children, while Catholic Church officials tried to sweep the incidents under the rug. These days, charges of sexual abuse continue to besiege the Church. Since the Globe’s groundbreaking reporting, victims of abuse have continued to come forward leveling charges, some settlements have been reached, apologies have been rendered, some offending priests have been punished, while church officials secretly relocated others to different parishes. As Frank Bruni and others have reported, cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic hierarchy who covered up sex abuse allegations.
At least 20 state attorney generals have launched investigations into the Catholic Church. For example, a recent report by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul found that “451 Catholic clergy abused 1,997 children in Illinois between 1950 and 2019,” the Associated Press’ Michael Tarm and Kathleen Foody reported (https://apnews.com/article/catholic-clergy-sexual-abuse-illinois-investigation-a298133cec9486c2e51172316bfe7b4b).
“It is my hope that this report will shine light both on those who violated their positions of power and trust to abuse innocent children, and on the men in church leadership who covered up that abuse,” Raoul said. “These perpetrators may never be held accountable in a court of law, but by naming them here, the intention is to provide a public accountability and a measure of healing to survivors who have long suffered in silence.”
However, as The New York Times’ Ruth Graham recently reported (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/us/catholic-church-sex-abuse-investigations.html) “These reports have not led to many criminal prosecutions: many of the accused have died, or statutes of limitations have expired. But victims of clerical sexual abuse and their advocates say the reports have had a lasting impact in other ways. In some states, the reports have helped persuade legislators to extend time limits for victims to sue alleged abusers. And many victims say that such public and official acknowledgment of what happened is a welcome step.”
CNN recently reported that, “Pope Francis has updated a 2019 church law governing clerical sexual abuse and extended it to include accountability for Catholic lay leaders of Vatican-approved religious organizations.”
To this day, however, Catholic dioceses across the country from Maryland to Illinois, from Connecticut to Tennessee and Pennsylvania, and most notably California, are being forced to grapple with thousands of lawsuits alleging child abuse.
According to the National Catholic Reporter’s Alejandra Molina, “At least a third of the 12 Roman Catholic dioceses in California have either filed for bankruptcy or are contemplating doing so to deal with an influx of lawsuits filed by survivors of childhood sexual abuse after a state law opened a three-year window in which cases were exempted from age limits” (https://religionnews.com/2023/05/26/catholic-church-in-california-grapples-with-more-than-3000-lawsuits-alleging-child-sex-abuse/).
Molina noted that, “More than 3,000 lawsuits have been filed against the Catholic Church in California under a 2019 state law that allowed alleged victims to sue up to the age of 40.” Despite Catholic bishops’ attempts to have the law overturned, two dioceses have declared bankruptcy and there may be more on the way.
“The Diocese of Santa Rosa, which is facing more than 200 lawsuits, filed for bankruptcy in mid-March. In its bankruptcy petition, it claimed assets valued between $10 million and $50 million. It estimated its liabilities in the same dollar range. The Diocese of Oakland, grappling with about 330 sexual abuse lawsuits, filed for bankruptcy in early May. It claimed assets valued between $100 million and $500 million with estimated liabilities in the same dollar range, according to its bankruptcy petition,” Molina reported.
Rick Simons, a lawyer serving as the plaintiffs’ liaison for cases in Northern California, told Religion News service’s Molina that the dioceses are addressing these cases “as they always have, by avoidance.” Simons added: “They [the bishops] say sympathetic words of responsibility and empathy for the victims in their public statements, and all their actions are exactly the opposite.”
The crisis in the Church is not only about money; it is also about the growing alienation of Catholic parishioners. Marlene Winell, a licensed psychologist in the Boston area who works with those recovering from religious harm, told the Baltimore Banner that “she thinks the sexual abuse scandal within the Catholic Church is ‘far and above’ any other scandal in religious groups. ‘It’s shocking, so people will sometimes get disgusted with the church and not want to be a part of it. The hypocrisy is something people don’t like very much,’ said Winell, who wrote the book, Leaving the Fold: A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving their Religion” (https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/religion/catholic-church-investigation-leaving-church-KY2JPZCLLBDDHGZGAYGNEUX4GQ/).
As The New York Times’ Graham noted, the wheels of justice turn very slowly, if they turn at all: “Survivor groups have urged the Department of Justice to mount a federal investigation of the church. Other groups have tried to sue the church under federal and state racketeering laws, but those suits have fizzled because of high legal hurdles, including the need to prove ‘injury to business or property,’ according to Stephen Rubino, a lawyer who tried the civil racketeering approach in a suit against the Archdiocese of Camden in the early 1990s. (That case was settled; Mr. Rubino later attempted another racketeering suit that was dismissed.) Many dioceses, facing waves of new civil suits, have filed for bankruptcy.”