Catholic World News News Feature
Naming Things Clearly February 04, 2003
The thought given was that experience had shown us the very difficult matter of anything being kept confidential, and we felt it necessary to make this statement in as timely a fashion as possible so that we could explain the action in a way that hopefully would not--that would explain it as best it can be explained, in the interest of not being secretive, in the interest of being open about it, that's why we did this. Cardinal Bernard Law Deposition testimony
###########
Attorney Bello: What do you feel, or do you know, is the penalty for violation of these celibacy?
Bishop Imesch: Eternal hellfire. I--you know, what's the penalty? Put in that I laughed.
Attorney Bello: At the question or the answer?
###########
This is a question put to me in a different form which you put to me before the break, and I attempted to answer it then, and I will attempt to answer it again as fully as I can. What was intended here was to report accurately and in a timely fashion in a time where there is a media frenzy around this issue and where our experience has been that things which we have assumed had been confidential meetings or confidential discussions found their way into print, and very often with a spin on them which betrayed, really, the substance of what was happening. We felt that in that kind of an environment, the best way and the most accurate way that we could serve the common good would be to tell what had happened, to tell what had happened succinctly and clearly, to tell why it had happened. Cardinal Bernard Law Deposition testimony
###########
I would like to say this. The most important thing is to clean up the truth. And the truth is that I have never said anything. Cardinal Edward Egan New York Times interview
###########
This "protective culture" involves not only protection of children and their families but, at the same time, the protection of the people of the Church from scandal, the priesthood, and the Church as a whole, forgetting that what matters most is the protection of those most innocent and vulnerable: our children. Editorial column, The Boston Pilot
###########
At the same time, as I said earlier, with the value of hindsight, with the value of hindsight, I would have hoped that concurrent or in a more timely fashion than the issue of that statement, which I think needed to be issued, needed to be issued by the chancellor, needed to be issued as soon as possible, I think that a more timely communication with counsel representing the plaintiffs would have been desirable. Yes, I agree with that. And I can only say, again, as I said earlier, that, that, that this issue, this whole issue as it plays itself out, is full of moments when hindsight would have been helpful. Cardinal Bernard Law Deposition testimony
###########
Ultimately, the charter adopted in Dallas and the new culture of zero tolerance that arises from it, will have to be implemented over the hesitance of all those who fail to realize that the two percent recidivism rate among treated clergy abusers means that dozens of children nationwide would remain at risk. Editorial column, The Boston Pilot
###########
It was a matter of discussion among some of us, whether a matter that came to us, people came to us speaking confidentially about a matter, whether, you know, that we would handle this matter as a church confidentially and--our practice was to handle matters--confidentially and not to raise it to the point where it would become so public that, at that time we saw this as a scandal, and that it would raise it to the level of a scandal. And so I think for both of those reasons, as a church we had to encourage people that they could, you know, make it public in some way if they wanted to, they could go to DSS, they could go to the district attorney's office. But as church we wanted to project the atmosphere that we would handle things confidentially so that people would feel free to come to us. Bishop John McNamara Deposition testimony
###########
'The Church in New Hampshire fully acknowledges and accepts responsibility for failures in our system that contributed to the endangerment of children. Bishop John McCormack, In a settlement agreement with local prosecutors The errors of specific persons, at specific times and places, which may have endangered children, cannot be attributed to the "Church" as a whole without overlooking the lives of integrity and good works of ministers of the church in our country throughout history. Bishop Wilton Gregory, Responding to the New Hampshire announcement
###########
The council is a council to give me counsel and Mr. Rogers is not a member of the council. Cardinal Bernard Law Deposition testimony
###########
Sadly, even among the baptized, there are those at extremes within the Church who have chosen to exploit the vulnerability of the bishops in this moment to advance their own agendas. One cannot fail to hear in the distance--and sometimes very nearby--the call of the false prophet: "Let us strike the shepherd and scatter the flock." We bishops need to recognize this call and to name it clearly for what it is. Bishop Wilton Gregory Presidential address, Meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops November 2002
