From 2002: Bevilacqua hears victims stories of pain

Originally published June 13, 2002

In two decades as a top U.S. Catholic prelate, Philadelphia Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua had never met face-to-face with a victim of clergy sex abuse, despite having dealt with multiple cases as the leader of two dioceses.

Yesterday, by his own doing, that changed dramatically.

Cardinal Bevilacqua was one of four U.S. cardinals who agreed to participate in an unprecedented meeting between about 25 survivors and relatives of abuse victims and some of the highest-ranking church officials gathered here for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Nearly 300 bishops are due to meet today and tomorrow to consider a uniform policy on sex abuse that would be binding in every diocese whenever a cleric abuses a child.

The 78-year-old cardinal seemed moved after listening to victims recount their own horrific tales of abuse, as well as families detailing the devastating impact of losing loved ones to a lifetime of grief and, in some cases, even suicide.

"They truly expressed a deep, deep pain. It helped me a great deal," the cardinal said during an intimate gathering of reporters in his hotel suite last night. "I had read much about these victims and I had to be honest with them and tell them that I am trying in every way to feel their pain and listen to them, and try to help them in every way possible.

"I assured them that our priority now is the victims first," the cardinal said, "and to prevent it as much as we can in the future. "

The sex-abuse policy is the only item on the agenda for the bishops' semiannual meeting, which is scheduled to end Saturday. Before they vote, the bishops will debate and amend a draft document of the charter that was publicly unveiled last week.

"Our goals are to protect all our children in all environments," Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told a news conference yesterday.

"What I think is critical is that the end result is clear, concise, transparent, and that it is applied uniformly throughout the dioceses in the United States," he continued. "Our people have to be able to say they get it. "

The draft charter proposes that bishops be obliged henceforth to remove from ministry any cleric who sexually abuses a minor.

But it also proposes that bishops retain discretion on whether to dismiss a priest involved in a single, marginal act of sexual impropriety with a minor in the past.

Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of Minneapolis-St. Paul, chair of the special committee that prepared the draft document, predicted last week that that clause would likely be among the most contentious items before the bishops at their Dallas meeting.

Yesterday he told a news conference that his committee had received 107 pages of suggestions from their fellow bishops on a broad array of topics, which they would be reviewing late into the night. "We've had many requests for adjustments and changes to the document," he said.

The meeting between bishops and victims was part of the preparation for the debate. It was organized by two national groups that consist largely of abuse victims and exist to support fellow victims of clergy sexual abuse: Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused By Priests and Linkup, headquartered in Kentucky.

Victims met for more than an hour yesterday, first with the eight-member Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse, led by Archbishop Flynn.

Then, with Archbishop Flynn present, they met with four U.S. cardinals who had accepted their invitation: Cardinal Bevilacqua , Baltimore Cardinal William Keeler, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, and Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

"We heard a whole group of heartbreaking stories," Cardinal McCarrick said. "It touched us deeply to see how so many people have suffered because of a few very sick, mixed-up priests. Criminal priests, you could say. "

Mark Serrano, who was abused by a priest as a 12-year-old and was among the victims to meet with bishops yesterday, challenged Cardinal McCarrick's view.

"The issue is not a few mixed-up priests," said Serrano, 38, a vice president of Survivors' Network. "It's felony criminal abusers in the priesthood and bishops who decide to keep them in the priesthood. "

Survivors' Network director David Clohessy said the bishops, and later the cardinals, heard their stories but did not seem willing just yet to accept some of the group's recommendations, including the disciplining of bishops who have transferred molesters from one parish to another, and the immediate removal of all priests credibly accused of abuse, whether in the past or not.

On the issue of zero tolerance for past infractions, Clohessy said Cardinal Mahony seemed to agree with the removal of all priests while Cardinal Bevilacqua seemed somewhat less supportive.

"Again, it's the past and future distinction," Clohessy said. "He [Cardinal Bevilacqua ] didn't say a great deal but it sounded like he was still saying he has problems removing a priest who has offended allegedly only once in the past. "

The cardinal explained later that he supports an amendment to the proposed policy that would give bishops discretion in determining, in consultation with an advisory panel, whether a one-time past offender poses a "grave" danger and therefore should be removed.

The cardinal said there was not a single priest, to his knowledge, functioning in any form of ministry in the Philadelphia Archdiocese who was at any time credibly accused of abuse in the past.

All cases of abuse handled under his watch as bishop in Pittsburgh and archbishop in Philadelphia were handled by his personnel director, as a matter of procedure, the cardinal said. As a result, he never met with a single victim.

"I'm not against it," the cardinal said. But when people made accusations, he said, they first met with his personnel director and never asked for meetings with the cardinal "because they received much of what they expected to get from me. "

He found yesterday's meeting "very positive for myself, to see them face to face. "

Cardinal Bevilacqua said he believed it was, as one victim said, "the beginning of another phase of her healing, that she could meet with us. "

If two-thirds of the voting bishops decide to adopt a policy, it would be an unprecedented step that would restrict the autonomy of local bishops. Many church leaders and lay Catholics say a policy is needed to end the crisis.

Contact Maria Panaritis at 215-854-5162 or mpanaritis@phillynews.com.