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A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 21 december 2019
Vatican office struggles to keep up with clergy abuse cases

Continued from Front "I suppose if I weren't a
priest and if I had a child
But the CDF's struggles re- who were abused, I'd prob-
main, and are emblematic ably stop going to Mass,"
of the overall dysfunction said Kennedy, who saw
of the church's in-house first-hand how the church
legal system, which relies in his native Ireland lost its
on bishops and religious credibility over the abuse
superiors, some with no le- scandal.
gal experience or qualified "I'd probably stop having
canon lawyers on staff, to anything to do with the
investigate allegations of church because I'd say,
sexual abuse that even the 'Well, if you can't look after
most seasoned criminal children, well, why should I
prosecutors have difficulty believe you?"
parsing. The system itself is But he said the Vatican
built on an inherent conflict was committed to fight-
of interest, with a bishop ing abuse and just need-
asked to weigh the claim ed more time to process
of an unknown alleged vic- the cases. "We're going to
tim against the word of a look at it forensically and
priest who he considers a guarantee that the just
spiritual son. outcome will be given," he
Despite promises of "zero said in an interview. In this Monday, Dec. 9, 2019 photo, Monsignor John Kennedy, the head of the Congregation for
tolerance" and account- "It's not about winning peo- the Doctrine of the Faith discipline section, looks through files at his office during an interview at
ability, the adoption of ple back, because faith is the Vatican. Associated Press
new laws and the creation something that is very per-
of expert commissions, the sonal," he added. "But at tral processing center for the time a survivor comes the church's reputation
Vatican finds itself still strug- least we give people the abuse cases as well as an to terms with the trauma above all else, the CDF un-
gling to reckon with the opportunity to say, 'Well, appeals court for accused and decides to report the der then-Cardinal Joseph
problem of predator priests maybe give the church a priests under the church's abuse to authorities — usu- Ratzinger '(the future Pope
-- a scourge that first erupt- second chance to hear canon law, a parallel legal ally to prevent further harm. Benedict XVI) in 2001 per-
ed publicly in Ireland and the message.'" system to civil law enforce- ''I wanted to make sure suaded St. John Paul II to
Australia in the 1990s, the ___Located in a mustard- ment that dispenses eccle- that this priest does not centralize the process.
U.S. in 2002, parts of Europe colored palazzo just inside sial justice. have access to any chil- The aim was to crack down
beginning in 2010 and Latin the Vatican gates, the In the past, when the CDF dren," said Paul Peloquin, a on abusers and provide
America last year. CDF serves as the cen- was known as the Holy Of- Catholic clinical psycholo- bishops and religious supe-
fice or the Sacred Roman gist and abuse survivor who riors with needed guidance
and Universal Inquisition, reported his abuser to the to punish the priests rather
such church punishments archdiocese of Santa Fe, than move them around
involved burnings at the New Mexico in 1990. from parish to parish, where
stake for heretics and pub- By then, church authorities they could abuse again. At
lishing lists of banned books had known for decades no time has the Vatican
that the faithful were for- that the Rev. Earl Bierman ever mandated superiors
bidden to read. groped young boys, and report abusers to police,
Today, CDF justice tends they had sent him off for though it has insisted they
more toward ordering er- therapy. But his bishops cooperate with civil report-
rant priests to prayer, pen- kept putting him back in ing laws.
ance and prohibition from ministry, where he is be- The 2001 revision calls for
celebrating Mass in public. lieved to have abused up- bishops and religious su-
In fact the worst punish- wards of 70 children. A Ken- periors who receive an
ment handed down by tucky jury convicted him in allegation to conduct a
the church's canon law, 1993 and sentenced him to preliminary investigation,
even for serial child rapists, 20 years in prison, where he which in the U.S. is often
is essentially being fired, or died in 2005. done with the help of a lay
dismissed from the clerical Peloquin, however, never review board.
state. received a reply to his initial If the bishop finds the claim
While priests sometimes complaint to his bishop. has a semblance of truth,
consider defrockings to "It just made me angry," he sends the documenta-
be equivalent to a death said Peloquin, who now tion to the CDF which tells
sentence, such seemingly counsels victims from a the bishop how to proceed:
minor sanctions for such faith-based perspective via a full-blown canonical
heinous crimes have long that emphasizes forgive- trial, a more expedited "ad-
outraged victims, whose ness in healing. "It seemed ministrative" procedure, or
lives are forever scarred by like they would have called something else, including
their abuse. But recourse to me up right away and having the CDF itself take
church justice is sometimes said, 'Let's hear about what over the investigation.
all the victims have, given you've got to say.'" Over the ensuing months
the statutes of limitations Because of cases like his, and years, the bishop con-
for pursuing criminal charg- where the bishop ignored tinues the investigation
es or civil litigation have the victim, protected the in consultation with the
often long since passed by pedophile and placed CDF.q