Hear Our Voices – Page 16 – The Gay Catholic Priests' Blog

June 17, 2011June 5, 2026

Bishops Empower Themselves Not to Report Abuse Allegations, Catholics Speak Out

Statement from Call To Action Regarding

Bishops’ 2011 Spring Assembly:

Bishops Empower Themselves Not to Report Abuse Allegations, Catholics Speak Out

After this year’s revelations that the Philadelphia Archbishop and Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop failed to report sexual abuse allegations to their review boards and to civil authorities, Catholics of good will expected the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to revise their sexual abuse policies at this week’s Spring General Assembly. Today, the bishops conclude their gathering without making any substantive changes to their sex abuse policies.

The bishops did manage to authorize work on a new preaching document, issue a policy statement and approve new musical translations of the new liturgy to begin in September.

However, when it came to changing and further strengthening the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and its related Essential Norms, they added little and made minor tweaks to dates and numbers. One bishop even suggested that some of those who have abused should be able to return to ministry. Equally egregious, the bishops did not add a section to the charter that would mandate Bishops share sexual abuse allegations with their own diocesan review boards and, thus, potentially keep known abusers in ministry.

As a result, the power to keep a pedophile religious leader away from children continues to rest in the hands of the bishop–the same place it has always rested. Based on the last fifty years of scandal, we know this only leads to additional abuse victims and greater harm to the Church as a whole.

Call To Action encourages fellow Catholics to continue to speak up about any signs of abuse and direct their concerns, not only to church authorities, but to civil authorities. For assistance, contact SNAP, the Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests, http://www.snapnetwork.org

June 16, 2011June 5, 2026

Catholic bishops gather in Seattle, amidst new sex abuse allegations

Nearly 200 Catholic bishops gather in Seattle Wednesday for a three day conference, amidst new allegations of ongoing sexual abuse by priests.

The church leaders from all over the country will discuss potential changes to new rules put in place in 2002 aimed at curbing rampant sexual abuse spanning decades, resulting in thousands of complaints and over $2 billion in legal settlements.

“It’s little more than show. They’ve done virtually nothing to change things,” alleges John Shuster, director of Seattle’s Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Shuster says the reforms are meaningless, because they don’t carry any real power to remove pedophile priests.

Shuster accuses the church of continuing to cover up ongoing abuses, and his group is calling on the church to open its records and subject guilty priests to criminal prosecution. “This is criminal sexual abuse of children,” he complains. “If this were a plumber, he’d be locked up in a minute.”

But Catholic Church leaders insist guidelines put in place the last decade have drastically curbed abuse cases and no further rules are needed.

The gathering comes just days after three men filed new lawsuits against the Seattle archdiocese, alleging rampant abuse and cover up in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

May 31, 2011June 5, 2026

Hello And WELCOME!

Welcome to HEAR OUR VOICES! This is the blog section of gaycatholicpriests.org.

I’m hoping that as we get going here we’ll find the courage to speak, anonymously, if must be, but speak nonetheless. I hope that in time, and with the help of others, like you, we’ll be able to make this site a clearing house for all issues that impact on our lives as gay clergy and those of our non-clerical brothers.

If, as some have suggested, gay men comprise up to 60% of the ranks of the Roman Catholic priesthood, then I think it is high time we begin to take our rightful place at the table. I think this will only happen if we learn from each other, support each other, challenge each other and through this interaction make the alliances we’ll need to become the activists we must.

Again, in time, I hope to be able to incorporate a social networking component to this site, to facilitate us getting to know one another better. If any of you have resources to bring to this common effort, I’d sure like to hear from you.

I feel as thought I am better situated than many of you to launch a site like this, because of my status as a gay priest, but one that no longer publicly functions in that capacity. I am happily beyond the ecclesiastical reprisals a lot of you still fear. But I am still painfully aware of the spiritual isolation and emotional distress that we experience as gay men in the church. My 13-year battle with the Oblates Of Marry Immaculate to save my ministry, after the publication of my doctoral thesis: Gay Catholic Priests; A Study of Cognitive and Affective Dissonance, in 1981 have left its scars.

So, let’s make this happen, shall we?

I welcome your thoughts and comments…prayers would be nice too.

Richard Wagner, Ph.D.