It shocked many when Archbishop Chaput said he hadn’t read the 2005 or 2011 Grand Jury Reports during Tuesday’s press conference. He added he would read them. As one comment writer quipped, there must have been a really good in-flight movie.
Every Bishop in the country should have already read the Philadelphia Grand Jury Reports. The sex abuse cover up is the number one global Church issue. Witness Ireland. Amnesty International has named the Vatican in a report on human rights abuses for its failure to effectively deal with this issue. It’s an ongoing problem here in the U.S. and it’s our biggest problem here followed by the financial ruin left in its wake. Our Archdiocese is drowning in enormous legal, expert and lobbying fees that far outweigh victim compensation.
The Grand Jury reports are not only a blue print to what went so horribly wrong, they offer the Grand Jury’s recommendations to prevent the same from ever happening again.
Read more on this subject:
“New Archbishop Chaput’s Tactics: What he knows – and doesn’t know – about the sex-abuse scandal in Philadelphia’s Catholic Church,” by Robert Huber, The Philly Post, Philadelphia Magazine, July 21, 2011
Maybe he should subscribe to your blog as well.
I do not believe that chaput did not read the PGJ reports, that is why he is here as a ‘hatchet man’ to lobby against any legislation that would give the VICTIMS a chance a JUSTICE. I wonder if the Politicians will extend the same courtesies to the VICTIMS as they will to the new archbishop ? Is this FAIR ? I hope the US will follow the lead of Ireland and no longer cower in fear against the ‘rcc’.
I believe that speaks volumes.
I just don’t understand. How can supposed “men of God” ignore the suffering of children–innocent children, for God’s sake–who have been victimized by predator priests? How can they talk about Christian love and charity and not feel like “whited sepulchres”? How can they deploy lobbyists around the state to fight a change in laws that might bring victims some spiritual and psychological healing? Don’t talk to me about Canon Law. What about God’s law? I’m so disheartened.
He has a direct line to God while the people from Catholics4Change are still using morse code, we know how fast the Church moves except to protect an accused priest. Guess we might pray to a different God, The God I worship is feeling a lot of pain knowing what is happening to His Church( pain to her people). Hopefuly the many Catholics and Philadelphians realized how he just discounted important documents on how the church protects abusive priets and treats its victims, as many of you expressed, required reading.
God is making this so clear for everyone. Chaput either doesn’t care, or he’s lying to you. There is no other choice. He had plenty of time to read the reports, but it wasn’t a priority. In fact, on the plane, he could have read enough of the reports to get a sense of how horrifying it is.
Now you know exactly who and what your new Archbishop is. God makes it so simple.
I, also, do not believe that Chaput didn’t read the Grand Jury Report. I believe he was sent here by a calculating hierarchy to make sure the statute of limitations remains in place, and to perform major damage control to make sure the money keeps coming Personally, I believe that he is scarier than Rigali because he will be able to pull the wool over the eyes of many with much more expertise. His comments in the published interview by the NCR tell all – especially his response to the question regarding the AD ( actually the people in the pews) paying the legal fees for Msgr. Lynn. If you read the interview, I’ll suggest to you what I told my friend — make sure to have a bucket close at hand, because you may want to throw up. She called me back in a matter of minutes to tell me that she got as far as those comments and couldn’t read anymore of it — that she just couldn’t take it.
I agree, I think he must have read it. My thought is that he wanted to start right off establishing his position regarding the Grant Jury Report – that it is unimportant to him – and also serve as an example of how he expected everyone else to respond – as if it is unimportant to all of us.
The more things change in the RCC, the more they stay the same.
It will take blogs, lawsuits, good grand juries, and the grace of God to bring down those who believe they are above the law.
We must blog, agitate, and pray for the grace of God to enlighten these heardhearted, self-centered men.
What’s that old saying?” monkey see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ This is the 21 century and that is not going to work anymore…………..
My church publishes an annual financial report and distributes it to all parishoners. Anyone know where I can obtain a copy of the Philadelphia Archdiocese financial reports. I would like to know how much money is taken in and how much goes out in salaries, to the law firm, political action committees, etc. Just the facts, please.
Below-mentioned are some useful links which, in turn, lead to further sites.
http://www.arcc-catholic-rights.net/
http://americancatholiccouncil.org/
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/
http://www.votf.org/index.html
http://www.cta-usa.org/
http://www.shc.edu/theolibrary/
http://www.watac.net/
http://www.womenpriests.org/index.asp
http://www.cnwe.org/
I find it helpful to review the various resources in order to focus on my areas of interest and concern.
Maybe the Archbishop spent the flight across in prayer, in knowledge that if he is to tackle this heartbreaking issue well, he first needs to lay the entire Archdiocese at the feet of the Lord.
Maybe he had read some or all of the report, but had not had the time to study it in detail. Prudence would suggest that commenting on a report that he has not had time to give appropriate (ie full) consideration to could possibly do more damage than good to already deeply traumatised victims.
I would be more concerned if, less than two weeks after finding out about his appointment to the Archdiocese, and in the presence of the Cardinal Rigali, the Archbishop felt himself informed enough to comment.
How about you give the new Archbishop the benefit of the doubt? From his record, it does not appear that Archbishop Chaput retreats from the difficult issues.
More than your criticism, he needs your prayers.
If that were the case, the appropriate response would have been the truth. “I’ve looked at the report, but don’t want to comment yet.” People use “no comment” with the press all the time. I believe Archbishop Chaput was telling the truth. As you wrote, he does not appear to retreat. I also believe many US Bishops don’t get the gravity of the issue or don’t know how to deal with it. Reading the reports would be a good first step.
Taking on the situation in Philadelphia is no small task. Archbishop Chaput most certainly has my prayers.
I believe a few weeks ago the Bishop was at the US Catholics Bishop’s Conference (you know the conference where a cardinal stood up and said we are a church of forgiving and we should forgive the priests and let them back into ministry) where they were going to vote to make changes to the Dallas Charter (the charter that is supposed to spell out about protecting children from child sexual abuse). Philly AD and its response to child abuse has passed the Charter’s requirements every year since the Charter was enacted.
The Bishops were going to vote on making changes to the Charter How can any bishop vote on changes to this charter if they have not read about the Charter’s greatest failure (to date) (i.e. the Philly Grand Jury report)?
If he has not read the jury report, SHAME on him as it was his responsibility to read it so he could intelligently discuss the changes need to the Charter. I believe most bishops ignored it since the only changes to the charter was a few minor tweaks.
Exactly!!! You hit the nail on the head. Kathy and I were astounded by that fiasco of a Conference and the lack of response to such glaring issue.