Pope Francis announced Archbishop Nelson Perez as the next leader of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It’s a homecoming of sorts. After graduating St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in 1989, Perez was ordained by Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.
Bienvenido a casa
During my time at The Catholic Standard and Times, the archdiocesan newspaper, Perez served as the first director of the Catholic Institute for Evangelization. Bevilacqua created the institute as a public relations bandaid for the wounds inflicted on the Hispanic community after he closed St. Henry’s Parish in North Philadelphia. There was outcry over removing the Catholic presence in a community where it was arguably needed most.
Perez was tasked with outreach to balance out the abandonment. Then the newspaper was told to cover it. Bevilacqua had his PR consultants review and edit out any negative quotes before we went to press.
While every effort in his role may have been genuine and helpful to the faithful, Perez was a pawn. He was ordained into a clerical culture of power, greed, hypocrisy, manipulation and well-documented secrecy. The clergy sex abuse coverup was in full swing. Memos were shredded, priests were shuffled and victims were silenced. What did Perez know and ignore? Did he merely survive and manage to thrive in spite of it?
Hope needs a plan
An Inquirer editorial on the announcement focused on “hope.” It referenced the theme of hope in Pope Francis’ message on the 53rd World Day of Peace. The pontiff said the year 2020 should be “a journey of hope and peace, not through words, but through daily gestures of dialogue, reconciliation, and care for creation.”
That quote offers important clarification. Hope alone is for the helpless. It can carry the powerless, abused and ill through dark and challenging times. Most of us are not helpless. It is our spiritual and moral obligation to add action to hope so that we can “care for creation.”
In an interview this past June, Perez told a Cleveland news station that he believes since 2002, the Catholic Church has put strict procedures in place to minimize the potential for child sex abuse allegations in the future.
“It goes to civil authorities. It goes to an independent review board. A lot of work has been done in the last 18 years, which makes me feel comfortable,” said Perez.
We’re uncomfortable
We hope the bishop hasn’t unpacked that feeling from his suitcase. How can we be comfortable with the state of child abuse prevention in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In just the past year, there have been three arrests. These include a suspended priest accused of raping a teenage girl at a former parish assignment in Roxborough and two Catholic high school lay teachers accused of sexually assaulting students. Yay for the arrests, but let’s talk about better prevention.
All is not well with transparency either. Existing policies aren’t adequately enforced and needed policies aren’t in place. After a wide-spread boundary violation took place on social media that involved an order priest and several female high school students, the Archdiocese didn’t share its knowledge of the incident with the parents of involved students. However, if one of those students had done something damaging to their school’s reputation on social media, the parents’ phones would be ringing within hours.
For years, Kathy Kane has asked Archdiocesan leadership to put a policy in place requiring them to notify the parents or legal guardians of any minors who are impacted by any known boundary violation. Those violations are outlined in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth for a reason. They are the proven gateway to abuse. No action.
There is still a lot of work to be done here in Philly to protect kids and our Catholic faith.
Replacing retiring Archbishop Charles Chaput, Perez will be officially installed on February 18th.
Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer. Kathy Kane contributed key info and quotes for this article: “Nelson Perez’s appointment as archbishop brings speculation and celebration for Philly-area Catholics” by Justine McDaniel and Anna Orso, January 23, 2020
I was entirely sick of Chaput. I consider him a total failure who did nothing for the problems existing in our diocese. I am so glad to see him gone. Saddened a bit however learning he plans to hang around. As for Bishop Perez coming to us I am very hopeful. A chance now exists to change the direction Chaput has taken us. It will take time but let us all give him that and offer our prayers for his success. I am very optimistic.
John, I know this news makes you happy. Let’s hope that Bishop Perez also has better email etiquette than Archbishop Chaput. Those scolding emails from Chaput were one for the books! The demeanor that Bishop Perez showed at the press conference was friendlier than what we are used to these past few years.
Susan Matthews–It’s exhilarating to read an article that pulls no punches about subject matter most are willing to just tiptoe around. It is unknown what Perez knew and what he ignored when he was here before. It’s hard to believe, with all that was going on, that he was unaware. However, his conclusion that the Church has, since 2002, put strict procedures in place and that the danger to children has been minimized is, at best, naive and uninformed, and possibly, it’s just something he says in his role as front man covering up the actual facts. Either way, it does not bode well for a new regime of transparency and integrity. As always, thank you and Kathy Kane for keeping us informed.
My hope is that things change in a positive way, but the proof will be in actions, I’ll just wait and see.
Susan, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I guess we’ll have to “wait and see”, but Perez doesn’t sound promising. Hope it’s not just more of the same.
We are taught as parish leaders not to make too many changes the first year unless it is absolutely necessary. So, I look forward to year 2021 and hope that Bishop Perez will have the courage and grace to address the corruption in the Philadelphia church.
In recent years I feel like I am in the “Twilight Zone”. Turns out the “Nelson” the bishops were wishing Happy Birthday to in the Baltimore bar lounge area was none other than Archbishop Perez. Who knew? We certainly didn’t know at the time. I recently saw Bishop Strickland and Cardinal Burke are speaking at the Cathedral in Philadelphia in April and I keep having flash backs to an unassuming priest with a cap on his head with his hands in his coat pockets every once in awhile shaking peoples hands as they entered the rally outside the Bishops Conference. I asked someone “who is that priest?” and someone replied “that’s Bishop Strickland” and I said to myself “Thank God”. Fr. Chris Walsh and a few other priests were there also but Bishop Strickland was the only bishop to come speak to the lay people and survivors outside the Bishops Conference. I feel like the bishop’s conference is in our own backyard now. Who’s the “bad guy” who’s the :good guy”? Only God knows. I am tired. I wouldn’t even pretend to know how tired our survivors are after all these years of seeking justice, uncovering lies and educating the public.God Bless them. All I know is that we are watching…..the world is watching…..we are watching closely the bishops actions and inaction….
Someone once told me it’s not so much what you say but what you do that your children pick up on and I would add it’s also remembering how a parent made you feel. Bishops are suppose to be parent- like .I wanna be like the bishop standing alone in a crowd that was encouraging and greeting survivors and lay people and kneeing on the concrete praying for the unborn. I don’t wanna be like the bishops getting trashed and trash talking everyone in their office etc. (I was greatly disturbed at the Bishop’s conference at what I heard and saw).We need holiness modeled to us. It’s lacking in the catholic church now and almost none existent. Bishops can’t give what they don’t have. They can’t teach us to be holy if they aren’t holy. I have learned it’s only in uniting our suffering with Christ that we truly understand him. Many times in life I have run from suffering but it is only thru suffering that I have truly encountered Christ. When everything is taken away from you all you are left with is Christ you begin to realize he is all you ever needed because he is pure Good and pure Love. I was reminded about this on the Pilgrimage I took to Israel this passed summer with Dr. Taylor Marshall and Fr. John Hollowell. Dr. Taylor Marshall brought up the “Beatific vision” that’s our end goal as catholics. I recently found out Fr. Hollowell has a brain tumor. He had asked for some kind of penance to make amends for the priests having abused children and God answered his prayers. There was at least one Clergy abuse survivor from Buffalo on the Pilgrimage we went to in Israel, This survivor showed such a strength of the human spirit. Fr. Hollowell is asking any survivor that he can pray for during his chemo and radiation to contact him. God works in strange ways I don’t understand. On the Dolorosa…the path of Christ’s passion I carried a small cross and it was blessed by Fr. Hollowell it’s this cross that I gave Archbishop Chaput.Fr. Hollowell thankyou with all my heart for showing me how to be holy and leading the way to the ‘Beatific vision”. You hiking miles in the 100 degree weather in your black cassock so you could see the Holy Sepulchre and Shrine of St. Mary Magdalene one more time and a little longer made an impression on me. It was obvious your love for Christ and you wanting to be close to him. God Bless you and keep you.