catholicsphere

Independent investigation will bring changes to archdioceses handling of abuse cases

It’s been widely reported that the changes in the abuse policies that were made by the Bishops in 2003 were ineffective and that “business as usual” continues. Yet, there are some things that don’t add up, which leave huge questions.

Until news of McCormack’s arrest broke, the Archdiocese of Chicago had enjoyed a relatively good reputation for handling allegations or clerical sex abuse.

It is alleged that Rev. Dan McCormack was left in position, after an investigation by police in August 2005. It’s one of the first cases where allegations of current abuse have occurred, as opposed to those that may have occurred 20, 30 or 50 years ago.

The archdiocese and Cardinal George personally were widely criticized for not removing McCormack from ministry sooner. The priest had been questioned by Chicago police at the end of August 2005 after one of the boys reported being molested three years ago; he was released without charge because the state’s attorney did not believe there was enough evidence to prosecute him.

I’m unclear why victim’s groups would be screaming for the removal of someone who did not have prosecutable evidence against him? The alleged victims went only to civil authorities, and did not give the archdiocese the opportunity and information to do its own additional investigation.

At the time, archdiocesan officials said they tried to get the child’s family to bring the allegation to them so they could mount an investigation into whether the report was “credible”—a much lower standard than the legal system would need. In the interim, McCormack was told to avoid being alone with children and another priest living in the St. Agatha rectory was asked to monitor his activities.

Still, the archdiocese promises to change its policies to remove a priest from ministry during any investigation, after an allegation, even if it doesn’t come to the diocese. While this risks damage to the reputation of the priest if an allegation is found to not be credible, the Church is committed to it’s policy to err on the side of protection of children.

In the future, under the ongoing changes in archdiocesan policies, allegations made to DCFS or the police will be treated as allegations to the archdiocese, Lago said, and any priests involved will be subject to possible temporary removal from their posts.

“I’m not talking about every priest being removed if someone calls and said Father So-and-So abused me,” he said. “But if the sense is that it might have happened, especially if it’s a current case, there are provisions for the priest to be removed temporarily. It can be done within 24 or 36 hours.”

It seems to be an unprecidented policy that says “guilty until proven innocent” … but the Church wants to restore credibility and trust. That won’t come quickly, but over time hopefully healing will come to victims, and these “priests leading a double-life” will come forward and step out of ministry.