The Abuse Cover-Up: A Possible Scenario

If a person is well-grounded in the Catholic faith, here is what is supposed to happen when he/she knowingly commits a serious sin.  1)  He/she recognizes the sin as being serious and feels remorse.  2) He/she seeks the Lord’s forgiveness by utilizing the Sacrament of Reconciliation, confessing the sin to a priest.  3)  The priest discusses the sin with the penitent and provides guidance and spiritual direction.  4) The priest prescribes some token act of penance to be performed by the penitent when he/she leaves the confessional.  5)  While still in the confessional, the penitent recites the Catholic prayer known as the Act of Contrition.  6) The priest absolves the penitent of the sin (“in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”) and sends him/her on their way.  Here is this Act of Contrition as I memorized it 63 years ago (when I was in the second grade).

O my God, I’m heartily sorry for having offended Thee and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pain of Hell.  But most of all, I detest them because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love.  I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, do penance, and amend my life.  Amen.

By resolving to “amend my life,” the penitent is making what is called a “firm purpose of amendment,” which means he/she is resolving to never commit that sin again.  This resolution is made like a vow before God.  He/she should be leaving the confessional with the mindset that he/she will never commit that sin again.

Very important in this entire scenario is the “seal of confession.”  My understanding is that the priest is bound to never reveal to anyone the sins the penitent has confessed, even if it is so serious that it is considered a crime by the civil courts.  Think murder, or the sexual abuse of a child, for example.  The reason for this “seal” is that if a priest is free to reveal the sin to the civil authorities, then a penitent would likely never make use of the sacrament, would never have the sin forgiven, and would be damned to Hell for all eternity when he/she died.  This is diametrically opposed to what the Church seeks for everyone who ever existed, which is their eternal salvation.  The civil courts accept this tenet of our faith and will not expect a priest to reveal what he knows about any crimes for which a prisoner is accused.  However, the priest may strongly recommend privately to the penitent that he/she “turn himself/herself in” and accept the civil punishment that is due.

Now, imagine that the penitent is a Catholic priest who has sexually abused a child.  I would assume any priest is sufficiently well grounded in the Catholic faith and is familiar with the above process.  He is remorseful, seeks out the Sacrament of Reconciliation, confesses the sin to another priest, or perhaps to a bishop, recites the Act of Contrition, makes his firm purpose of amendment, gets absolved of the sin, and goes on his way.  If the confessor is a bishop, then this bishop is bound by the seal of confession and cannot tell anyone of the abuse that occurred.  Modern society may view this as a cover-up.  The Church views this as a bishop being true to the seal of confession. 

What is missing here is the fact the back in the 60’s and 70’s, when it seems most of the abuse occurred, the word “predator” was perhaps not in anyone’s vocabulary as clearly as it is today, and a bishop would have wanted to believe the penitent (a priest) who has made the firm purpose of amendment, assigned him to a parish where he again has children under his tutelage when this priest is, if fact, likely to offend again (the definition of “predator”).  If this is true, then we have learned an important new word and what it means and such a "re-assignment" would be unthinkable.  However, by the same token, the cover-up seems to continue to this day, which is simply inexcusable no matter what the particular scenario. The question remains:  Where do we go from here?

What is also missing here is the effect the abuse has had on the victim.  If I would have been abused by a priest back then, I can’t imagine the damage it would have done to my psyche and my personal Catholic faith.  It may well have been irreparable.  What we need today is leadership and I think it must come from within the Church.  We need a modern saint of the same ilk as in ages past when a serious heresy or similar error occurred … a saint, perhaps a pope, who will change the culture by his preaching and his actions.  We need a modern saint who has some answers and can see their way out of this situation and lead us back to moral sanity.  Lord, help us.  Amen!