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Gino Bartali (1914-2000) competing in the 1938 Tour de France. / Public domain

Vatican City, May 5, 2021 / 09:10 am (CNA).
A cycling champion and devout Catholic who helped to save more than 800 Jews from Nazi persecution during World War II was… […]

Lansing, Mich., Feb 23, 2019 / 04:37 am (CNA).- Catholic dioceses in the state of Michigan are reaffirming their commitment to reporting sex abuse, while asking for clarifications about recent claims made by state Attorney General Dana Nessel.

Nessel claimed in a recent update that dioceses are “self-policing,” using non-disclosure agreements and “failing to deliver” on their promises to cooperate with law enforcement authorities.

In response, the Archdiocese of Detroit said the update made “broad generalizations” that call for clarity.

“The Archdiocese of Detroit does not self-police,” the archdiocese said Feb. 21. “We encourage all victims to report abuse directly to law enforcement.”

“Clergy with credible accusations against them do not belong in ministry,” it continued. “Since the attorney general’s investigation began, the Archdiocese of Detroit has not received notification from that office regarding credible accusations against any of our priests. Should we become aware of such a complaint, we will act immediately.”

“Since 2002, the Archdiocese of Detroit has not entered into any non-disclosure agreements, unless specifically requested by a survivor of abuse, as required by the Catholic Church in the United States. In addition, the archdiocese does not enforce any non-disclosure agreements signed prior to 2002. We encourage all abuse survivors to share their stories.”

Other dioceses made similar points, and some said they had not yet been asked to stop internal investigations.

At a Feb. 21 press conference, Nessel gave an update about the Catholic clerical sex abuse investigations in Michigan begun in August 2018 under her predecessor, Bill Schuette. In October 2018 law enforcement conducted simultaneous raids on the offices of the state’s seven Roman Catholic dioceses.

Nessel said these raids involved close to 70 officers and special agents and 14 assistant attorneys general.

“We did not depend on the dioceses to turn over documents, which is what primarily happened in other states,” she said. Investigators are reviewing hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, including Church procedures regarding abuse allegations and investigations.

“Unfortunately, the reality is there are predators in the priesthood that are still out there and we feel as though they have to be stopped and we need to ensure this doesn’t happen again and bad actors are consistently held accountable,” she said.

Nessel estimated the investigation will take about two years, suggesting over 1,000 sex abuse victims could be found. She did not discuss how her office estimated that number, the Michigan news site Mlive.com reports.

State authorities have received 300 tips since the launch of the investigation. The attorney general said a report will be released at the end of the investigations. She contended that the Church was currently “self-policing” and said this should stop.

“If an investigator comes to your door and asks to speak with you, please ask to see their badge and not their rosary,” Nessel said. “Victims may believe that they cannot or should not report abuse to us because the Church is going to handle it. That’s simply not true.”

She cited reports from victims that they were encouraged to agree to settlements and sign nondisclosure agreements. Those who have signed such agreements have the right to speak to law enforcement, she said. Even if alleged abuse falls beyond the statute of limitations, a report can be useful in other prosecutions.

“We can, and we will, follow the trail of abuse where it’s occurred.”

First-degree criminal sexual conduct has no statute of limitations for criminal prosecution under state law. All other levels of criminal sexual conduct have a limit of 10 years from the time of the crime or from the time the victim turns 21, whichever comes later.

The attorney general’s update drew different reactions.

“We were surprised by some of the statements made this morning,” said Candace Neff, communications director for the Gaylord diocese, which pledged continued cooperation and assistance for the investigation.

“We are very grateful for the assistance of the attorney general in this process,” Neff said, adding that the diocese has not received a request to cease all internal review processes.

“We hope to receive clarification on this request soon,” she said.

Neff said the diocese looks forward to the attorney general’s final report and shares the goals of intending “to respond with compassion for victim-survivors, to properly prosecute offenders, to prevent anyone from being abused in the future, and to bring about healing for those who have been harmed in the past.”

Col. Joe Gasper, head of the Michigan State Police, said the best agents have been assigned to this “exceptionally complex and complicated” case.

“We have high standards within the Michigan State Police and I can assure you we won’t be cutting any corners … and let the citizens of Michigan down,” he said, according to Mlive.com. “We take all leads seriously. It’s critically important that we hear directly from you when you have information to provide.”

Gasper said that cooperation of Church officials varies from diocese to diocese.

The investigators’ clergy abuse hotline is at (1-844-324-3374) and available at the website mi.gov/clergyabuse

Nessel’s office has sent letters to every parish in the state asking them to tell parishioners about the investigation.

The Detroit archdiocese noted its support for mandatory sex abuse reporting laws and its education efforts of its mandated reporters. It said it has worked to help parishes publicize the state’s sex abuse tip-line.

The archdiocese said it places no time limits on reports of sex abuse of minors by priests, deacons and other personnel. The archdiocese added that the attorney general’s office has not asked it to stop internal review processes.

“These internal investigations are required under Church law, and their purpose is to restrict or remove from ministry anyone who has committed sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult,” it said.

In September, Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing said that the diocese would name priests with credible sex abuse allegations after a review from an external agency. The attorney general’s raid on diocesan offices put that review on hold, since it took possession of all clergy files, the Lansing State Journal reports.

A spokesman for the Lansing diocese said the diocese will cooperate with the investigation and with the request that internal reviews be put on hold. At the same time, he said, the diocese will conduct its own review after the investigation.

The diocese’s general counsel was recently hired after seven years with the attorney general’s office. The diocese said its general counsel “promptly reports alleged crimes to the attorney general and local prosecutors” when alleged victims report to the diocese rather than legal authorities.

“The diocese welcomes this review of our handling of abuse cases. We are confident in our processes. We have and will continue to reach out to law enforcement with these matters,” the Lansing diocese said Feb. 21. “We know of no one active in ministry in our diocese who has abused a child. The last known event of abuse of a minor occurred prior to 2002.”

“There is no place in the Church for anyone who would harm a child. It is important that anyone committing these crimes is brought to justice. We continue to pray that Christ will bring healing to all victims and to his Church,” said the Lansing diocese, encouraging anyone with knowledge of any kind of abuse to contact protective services or the police.

The Diocese of Marquette said no one presently in ministry is known to have abused a child. It encouraged individuals to report all sex abuse of minors, “no matter when the abuse occurred,” to local law enforcement and to the state attorney general’s office. The diocese is committed to “fully cooperating” with the state investigation and has “fully complied” with requests for information, it said.

In a short statement the Kalamazoo diocese affirmed continued cooperation with the investigation and encouraged anyone with information of suspected abuse to report it to the attorney general. It offered prayers for victims.

The Grand Rapids diocese similarly said it is continuing to cooperate with the investigation and reports all sex abuse allegations to law enforcement. It has not been notified by the attorney general of any credible accusations against its priests and will take “immediate action” if it is.

Some dioceses noted their past efforts at cooperation. The Detroit archdiocese said that in 2002 it turned over past case files involving clergy misconduct and committed to turning over all new allegations “regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred.” The Gaylord diocese said it “voluntarily reported all known allegations of sexual abuse of minors involving clergy of our diocese” 16 years ago.

[…]

Denver Newsroom, Oct 27, 2020 / 02:45 pm (CNA).-  

While allegations against two New Orleans-area priests have again raised questions about the Church’s response to clergy misconduct, the Archdiocese of New Orleans has confirmed that for the past two years it has been seeking to laicize clergy who have been removed from ministry for credible reports of sexual abuse.

“In the Archdiocese of New Orleans, very soon after the publication of the 2018 Clergy Abuse Report, conversations began in an effort to seek the laicization of those living clergy that had been removed from ministry for abuse of a minor and this is in process,” Sarah McDonald, communications director at the New Orleans archdiocese, told CNA Oct. 26.

“This is a highly technical canonical process and clergy have canonical rights that must be respected.”

On Oct. 1. the archdiocese announced the removal from ministry of Father Pat Wattingy, who on that day self-reported sexually abusing a minor in 2013. The archdiocese said the priest admitted the abuse after undergoing psychological treatment and going on a spiritual retreat this summer, the New Orleans CBS affiliate WWL-TV reports.

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated and then issued a warrant for the priest’s arrest on four counts of molestation of a juvenile, alleged to have taken place between December 2013 and December 2015. He was arrested as a fugitive at his home in West Point, Georgia on Oct. 22 and extradited to Louisiana.

“Mr. Wattigny stated that he knew he had warrants in Louisiana but that he did not know that we would catch him,” said the West Point Police Department’s incident report on the arrest.

The priest faces additional controversy concerning allegations that he sent inappropriate text messages to a minor at a Catholic high school where he was recently chaplain.

In Pearl River on Sept. 30, 37-year-old priest Father Travis Clark, recently the pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, has been charged with obscenity after he was discovered filming himself in sex acts with two women on the altar of the parish church.

A local resident told police they noticed the lights were on in the church and looked through the windows, discovering the three people. One of the women is reported to be a self-avowed satanist. Archbishop Aymond has since performed a penitential rite required for continued use of the church for sacramental purposes.

Both Clark and Wattigny have been asked to “seek laicization immediately,” McDonald told CNA. If the priests do not request to be laicized by the Vatican, each could be laicized as the result of a formal canonical trial.

“The removal of Clark and Wattigny from priestly ministry marks the first time Archbishop Aymond as Archbishop of New Orleans has had to remove an active clergyman from ministry for abuse or scandal.” McDonald said. Aymond became New Orleans’ archbishop in August 2009.

While priests who are found by a canonical process to have committed an act of serious sexual abuse can be laicized, or removed from the clerical state, other priests who have been credibly accused of abuse but not found guilty in such a process remain clerics, even if they will not be returned to priestly ministry.

Under canon law, a priest or deacon has the right to housing and minimal financial support if he has not been formally laicized, even if he is not eligible for priestly ministry. Dioceses have sometimes been criticized for payments to priests accused of abuse but not laicized, even while the diocese is canonically obliged to make some provision for them.

In addition to those laicized after a canonical penal process, priests can also be laicized at the discretion of the Vatican if they request it, or if the diocesan bishop makes such a request under limited circumstances established by the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy in 2009.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans did not offer specifics about its efforts to laicize priests accused of abuse.

At least seven diocesan priests on the archdiocese’s list of 72 credibly accused clergy are still living, according to the New Orleans Advocate. This list does not include accused religious clergy who are under their religious orders’ jurisdictions.

In the New Orleans archdiocese, benefits to accused priests had included retirement benefits, until a federal judge overseeing its Chapter 11 bankruptcy said that the archdiocese could only pay for health insurance.

Archbishop Aymond held a day of prayer, fasting and atonement on Friday, Oct. 23 and encouraged the Catholic faithful to participate, especially those feeling wounded.

“We know that it’s been a very challenging time in our archdiocese, for a number of reasons, especially because of the news we have received recently about two of our priests who have not fulfilled their vocation,” he said in an Oct. 19 video at the archdiocese’s YouTube channel.

“It is important that we come together as a community of faith and pray for the wounds of our Church: personal wounds and the wounds that so many are feeling at this time, with a sense of disappointment and betrayal,” he said.

“I’m asking you specifically to enter into fasting if you wish to, to enter into prayer, and we are providing for you a Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which helps us to get into the heart of Jesus, to give him our suffering, and to ask him for the healing and peace that he alone can give,” said the archbishop.

“Let us also pray for all the victims of abuse. They need our prayers and support as we reach out to them,” he said.

On Oct. 16, Aymond met with all the archdiocese’s priests regarding the scandal caused by the two priests.

The Council of Deans and the Presbyteral Council, both composed of leading priests in the archdiocese, wrote an Oct. 16 letter on behalf of the 335 priests of the archdiocese. While acknowledging that some have questioned his leadership, the letter voiced the clergy’s support for the archbishop.

The letter gave an account of the meeting, reporting an “open and honest dialogue” with the archbishop followed by time together in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, then a collective renewal of their ordination promises by the archbishop and the clergy together.

“He exhorted all of us to pray regularly for victims of sexual abuse. At the end of his remarks, all of us present stood in unanimous support of Archbishop Aymond,” said the letter, which the archdiocese carried on its website.

“We emphatically support Archbishop Aymond and his leadership of our local church,” the priests’ letter continued. “Archbishop Aymond is a dedicated, faithful, and holy priest of Jesus Christ. He has always faithfully served the people of God throughout his priesthood.”

“While the archbishop did not create the problems of sexual abuse, he has always courageously addressed the issue,” said their letter. They characterized Aymond’s decision to publish a list of credibly accused clergy as a “bold step.” In their view, the archbishop has acted quickly to any new allegations

“While the last few years have been difficult, we believe that his leadership is helping to shed light on the darkness of the past, to heal past wounds, and to renew the Church in New Orleans,” said the letter.

“Although a small number of priests have betrayed us and you, we commit ourselves and our lives wholeheartedly to the mission of Jesus Christ made present in the Church,” said the priests. “Be assured that the Church cannot and will not tolerate any sexual abuse or misconduct on the part of any cleric.”

Before his arrest on an obscenity charge and removal from ministry, Father Clark had been named to fill Wattigny’s role as chaplain at John Paul II High School in Slidell, Louisiana. Wattigny had resigned from the faculty in July.

The details of Father Wattigny’s recent misconduct involving texting are still in dispute.

On Oct. 2, Aymond told the principal of John Paul II High School that Wattigny allegedly sent inappropriate texts to a male student.

Although the student’s parents and attorney first alerted the archdiocese in February, school administrators were allegedly not told, and Wattigny was allowed to remain in ministry at the school until the end of the academic year.

According to a letter written by Aymond to parents of the school, reported by the Advocate, the texts did not contain “sexual references or innuendo” but still violated the archdiocesan policies about communication with youth.

The priest was reportedly admonished by archdiocesan officials to stop sending texts but permitted to remain in ministry at the school. He remained chaplain until he sent additional texts to at least one student and was reportedly sent by the archdiocese for a psychological evaluation.

Bill Arata, an attorney for the student, has said the priest’s texts had the aim of grooming the teen. Among other things, the priest asked the student repeatedly when he would turn 18. The priest texted the boy late at night, the attorney said, and his texts contained suggestive remarks. The attorney said he was told in June that the priest was being sent for a psychological evaluation. He said sending the priest for an evaluation confirms that the archdiocese knew the texts were not appropriate.

In an Oct. 9 statement, Aymond said Wattigny would never again serve in public ministry, and defended an archdiocesan decision not to remove Wattigny from the school when reports that he was sending inappropriate text messages first arose in February.

[…]