{"id":7903,"date":"2004-02-19T09:48:13","date_gmt":"2004-02-19T09:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2004\/02\/jason_berry_in_ncr.html"},"modified":"2004-02-19T09:48:13","modified_gmt":"2004-02-19T09:48:13","slug":"jason_berry_in_ncr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2004\/02\/jason_berry_in_ncr.html","title":{"rendered":"Jason Berry in NCR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reflecting on the abuse crisis, and in particular a bishop’s role:<\/a><\/p>\n

Although many priests have made impassioned statements of solidarity with victims, few have publicly criticized the bishops. That silence may change after Feb. 27. Priests need to affirm the meaning of the church. \u201cWe\u2019ve been told to \u2018brace ourselves\u2019 for the national report. What will the church ever do to recover its moral voice?\u201d wrote Fr. Ray Klees in the Jan. 25 parish bulletin of St. Cletus Parish in the Chicago suburb of LaGrange. \u201cRecently, we\u2019ve heard stories from a former priest at a neighboring parish in Hinsdale and his recent conviction and sentencing. He\u2019s gone to prison. He\u2019s gone to prison, where every proven abuser belongs. According to media reports, he had been assigned a number of times, knowingly, on the \u2018watch\u2019 of Bishop Joseph Imesch, the Joliet diocese\u2019s bishop.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf those reports are true, and only he can absolutely say if they are, then Bishop Imesch ought to resign immediately. \u2026 Good ministry, in many forms, could be available to him. But for the good of the church, not just in Joliet, but nationally and worldwide, he should resign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good for Ray Klees. If other priests followed his example, and if the review board report makes specific recommendations to protect such priests, we might dig out of this quagmire sooner.<\/p>\n

Among the more glaring situations involving bishops:<\/p>\n

-The St. Petersburg, Fla., diocese paid $100,000 to settle a sexual harassment claim against Bishop Robert Lynch by a man who formerly worked as a diocesan public information officer. Why is Lynch in his office? <\/p>\n

-Frank Rodimer, as bishop of Paterson, N.J., used diocesan funds to pay a $250,000 settlement for his role in a case involving Peter Osinski, a Camden priest who had sex with a young boy during a series of summers at a beach house on the Jersey shore that the two men rented. The bedrooms were on the same floor. Osinski went to prison. Rodimer said he would repay the $250,000 — but only after a highly publicized meeting with survivors of another priest, James Hanley, who has since been laicized. Rodimer retired in good standing. Why is Rodimer a scheduled speaker at the College of St. Elizabeth\u2019s Spirituality Convention on April 24, as advertised in this newspaper? <\/p>\n

-Springfield, Ill., Bishop Daniel L. Ryan lives in a house the diocese bought him when he resigned, following accusations that he was sexually active with young men and had sex with a teenager. Why did he get a house? <\/p>\n

-Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester, N.H., and Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati made plea bargains with prosecutors over the handling of molestation cases in their dioceses, resulting in fines. Why are they on the job? <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reflecting on the abuse crisis, and in particular a bishop’s role: Although many priests have made impassioned statements of solidarity with victims, few have publicly criticized the bishops. That silence may change after Feb. 27. Priests need to affirm the meaning of the church. \u201cWe\u2019ve been told to \u2018brace ourselves\u2019 for the national report. 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}