Tag: Discontent

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Catholic cardinal accused in lawsuit of sexual assault

Police stand outside an Archdiocese of Quebec building before the visit of Pope Francis on July 27.

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Cardinal Marc Ouellet, one of the most prominent Catholic leaders in Canada, was accused of sexual assault in legal documents filed Tuesday in a Quebec court.

Ouellet, considered a candidate for pope in recent conclaves, is one of scores of church clergy, employees and volunteers accused of sexual misconduct in a class-action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec.

In the lawsuit, a woman identified only as “F.” accuses Ouellet of inappropriate touching and comments when he was archbishop of Quebec and she was a pastoral intern. She said the alleged abuse left her feeling “troubled” and gave her a sense of “deep unease,” and eventually prompted her to complain to Pope Francis last year.

The Archdiocese of Quebec said Tuesday that it “took note” of the allegations and “will not have any comment.” A Vatican spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Ouellet, 78, is one of the most important figures inside the Vatican bureaucracy, leading the department that vets and manages bishops. He has a reputation in the ideologically divided Church as being middle-of-the-road.

He was named cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2003, served as a lieutenant to Pope Benedict XVI and now holds near-weekly meetings with Pope Francis, who has allowed Ouellet to stay in his role far beyond the normal five-year term.

In the lead-up to the 2013 conclave in which Francis was named pope, Ouellet was mentioned often as a candidate for leader of the world’s 1.36 billion Catholics. His name still sometimes appears on lists of potential successors to Francis, though the 85-year-old pontiff has said he does not yet feel ready to retire.

During Francis’s pontificate, Ouellet has played a sometimes-public role. This year, he helped organize a symposium on the priesthood, during which he expressed regret for the “abusive and criminal behavior” that “destroyed” the lives of victims.< When the Church was shaken in 2018 by accusations that Francis knew and covered up the alleged sexual misconduct of Theodore McCarrick, an American cardinal, Ouellet wrote the Vatican’s first direct response, dismissing the claims as a “political plot that lacks any real basis.”

The allegations against Ouellet appear in a class-action lawsuit that was certified by a Quebec judge in May. The plaintiffs’ lawyers say more than 100 people allege misconduct against more than 85 members of the Catholic clergy, religious and lay pastoral staff, or volunteers.

According to the lawsuit, F. met Ouellet at a dinner of the Sisters of Charity of Quebec in 2008 when she was a 23-year-old intern with the Archdiocese of Quebec. After the dinner, it claims, Ouellet massaged her shoulders and caressed her back, leaving her “frozen” and unsure how to react.

At a celebration in 2010 for the ordination of a colleague, the lawsuit alleges, Ouellet told her that it was the second time that they were seeing each other that week and that he might as well kiss her again because “there is no harm in spoiling yourself a little” — a comment that she allegedly found “completely inappropriate.”

He then kissed her and slid his hand down her back to her buttocks, according to the lawsuit.

“That day, more than during previous meetings, F. understood that she must flee Cardinal Marc Ouellet as much as possible,” the lawsuit states. “The uneasiness she feels is more present than ever.”

The lawsuit alleges that the woman tried to avoid Ouellet as much as possible at events, sometimes citing university courses or professional obligations as a pretext to not attend them.

When she spoke of the “discomfort” she felt around him, the lawsuit alleges, she was told that Ouellet is “warm” and she was not the only woman to have this kind of “problem” with him. It does not say to whom she complained.

The lawsuit alleges she spoke about the assaults to her husband and several friends.

She followed a friend’s recommendation and reported the alleged assaults to an independent advisory committee that hears allegations of sexual abuse in 2020, the lawsuit says. In January 2021, at the suggestion of the committee’s chair, she wrote a letter to Francis about Ouellet

The next month, according to the filings, she was told that Francis had appointed the Rev. Jacques Servais to investigate Ouellet. The woman’s last communication with Servais was in March 2021; a conclusion about the complaint has not been communicated to her, the lawsuit alleges.

Ouellet traveled with Francis on a trip to Canada last month, when the pontiff apologized for Canada’s “catastrophic” residential school system, which separated Indigenous children from their families to assimilate them into Euro-Christian society. Most of the federally funded schools were run by Catholic entities

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Catholic clergy’s unquestioned — and uneducated — power spurs abuse

The report, ‘Beyond Bad Apples,’ looks at systemic causes behind the clergy sex abuse scandal of past decades.

Catherine Coleman Murphy, center, and Jack Wintermyer, right, protest along with others outside Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul before an Ash Wednesday Mass in Philadelphia on March 9, 2011.

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A new report based on interviews with some 300 Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople concludes that clergy aren’t adequately prepared to wield the power they exercise and need more education on questions of sex and gender.

The report, “Beyond Bad Apples: Understanding Clericalism as a Structural Problem & Cultivating Strategies for Change,” released Monday (Aug. 15), explores the links between clericalism — clergy’s focus on its authority — and clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse.

The study’s authors, Julie Hanlon Rubio and Paul J. Schutz, both professors at Santa Clara University, a Jesuit institution in Northern California, initially intended to survey 600 respondents, drawn proportionally from lay, religious (those who take vows but are not ordained to the priesthood) and priests, but were turned away by five of the six dioceses and diocesan seminaries they approached.

The authors admit that this “likely means that our respondents are biased towards agreement with our theory of clericalism” and that “our data leans in one direction.”

Nearly half (48.4%) of the 300 who participated were lay Catholics, 22% were nuns, 16% were priests and 6% were men in formation for the priesthood. More than two-thirds of their responses from priests came from those educated in Jesuit institutions.

The report was funded by a grant from Fordham University as part of a project dubbed, “Taking Responsibility: Jesuit Educational Institutions Confront the Causes and Legacy of Sexual Abuse.”

Rubio and Schutz wanted to move away from asking, “Is he a good priest or a bad priest?” and ask instead, “What are the underlying reasons that this priest is acting in this way?”

Existing studies, said the authors, “have focused on individuals who engage in abuse due to personal weakness, psychosexual vulnerabilities, the influence of broader historical movements, or poor theology and training.”

Schutz told Religion News Service that their aim was to understand how “structural clericalism operates in the church,” comparing clericalism to the way structural racism shapes the lives of people of color.

Rubio said, “When you blame ‘bad apples,’ then everybody else is sort of innocent, as long as we go after the bad apples. But when you say there’s a problem with the structure, that’s a much bigger problem, and we’re all implicated.”

The authors said their data shows that sex, gender and power are all components of structural clericalism, which in turn keeps priests above and apart from the rest of the church and potentially enables abuse.

“Beyond Bad Apples: Understanding Clericalism as a Structural Problem & Cultivating Strategies for Change" Courtesy image
“Beyond Bad Apples: Understanding Clericalism as a Structural Problem & Cultivating Strategies for Change”

Nearly half (49%) of priest respondents and 73% of those in formation said that they were told repression or sublimation were strategies for dealing with their sexuality (how one lives as a sexual person), according to the report. This number increases to 83% among non-Jesuit-educated priests.

The report also noted that 70% of those in formation and 51% of priests said it was difficult to talk about their sexuality. More than 75% of all respondents said the church would be a healthier institution if priests spoke openly about their own sexuality.

Half of priests and those in formation said their formation program gave them the tools they needed for living a celibate life without denying their sexuality. Of this 50%, all were Jesuit-educated; none were diocesan priests or students in diocesan seminaries.

Large majorities in the study rejected “simple correlations between homosexuality or celibacy and (clergy perpetrated sex abuse).” Only 11 respondents named homosexuality and only four named celibacy as a factor in clergy-perpetrated sex abuse, according to the report.

Among the survey’s participants, 40% of priests and men in formation for priesthood identified as homosexual or bisexual, the report found. Officially, the priesthood is limited to heterosexual men.

“The concentration of gay men in the priesthood cannot be overlooked because most priests are not able to be open about their sexual orientation, and some may consciously or unconsciously seek out priesthood as a way of avoiding or repressing their sexuality, making healthy celibacy extraordinarily difficult,” the report read.

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‘Too harsh’ and ‘out of step’

— Survey finds NJ Catholics want a more inclusive church

By Deena Yellin

Thousands of New Jersey Catholics gathered over the past year in an unprecedented series of meetings designed to help steer the future of the church.

The consensus, officials say, was clear: The Catholic Church needs to open its arms more to women, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals and others who feel marginalized by the faith.

The desire for more inclusivity was a major theme in discussions with 16,000 parishioners in four of New Jersey’s Catholic dioceses, according to summaries released recently by each diocese. While responses varied widely, many at the listening sessions said they too often feel unwelcome. Participants also cited distress at the church’s handling of the clergy abuse scandal.

“The challenge remains,” Trenton Bishop David O’Connell said in a statement, for the church “to determine ways to address and minimize the hurts felt by people.”

The surveys conducted by the Trenton, Camden, Paterson and Metuchen dioceses — representing almost 2.5 million Catholics — were part of a synod, or assembly, launched by Pope Francis last year and aimed at taking the pulse of the world’s Catholics. Such efforts have been convened throughout the centuries, generally with church leaders. But Francis upped the ante by asking every diocese on the planet to survey its parishioners, churchgoing or not.

The Newark Archdiocese, the state’s largest, with nearly 1.5 million worshippers in Bergen, Essex, Union and Hudson counties, is still working on its report, and its completion date is uncertain, spokesperson Sean Quinn said.

Other key themes from the New Jersey sessions included women’s role in the church, a desire for greater involvement in decision-making by the laity and the need to better engage young people, who have been fleeing religion in general. The call for a more welcoming church was echoed in recent reports from Catholic leaders in Seattle, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

Findings from the U.S. and assemblies around the world will be sent to participants of the synod in Rome, due to gather in October 2023.

Francis’ synod is the “widest in scope” that’s ever been attempted, said Tim Gabrielli, an expert in Catholic theology at the University of Dayton in Ohio, “Whether there will be a change in church doctrine as a result of the reports remains to be seen.s

“The process itself — which involves speaking with frankness, accompanying one another and carefully listening to each other — is transformational,” he said. “I don’t think anyone knows what will come of it. Pope Francis has never suggested a change to church teaching but has been consistent in emphasizing the importance of a more complete welcome and ministry to LGBTQ persons.”

Here’s a look at what local Catholics had to say, based on the four dioceses’ reports:

Paterson Diocese

Bishop-elect Kevin Sweeney, named the new leader of the Paterson Diocese, seen during ordinations of priests in Brooklyn.

The Diocese of Paterson, with 577,000 members in Passaic, Morris and Sussex counties, said many of the 5,000 participants in its synod sessions expressed a sense that the church is not loving. The church’s report said people cited “the absence of inclusion and sensitivity to women, Hispanic/Latino community, LGBTQ people, families with young children, people with special needs, people victimized by abuse, the elderly and other people who, for whatever reason, feel that they do not conform to the prevalent social or moral norms.”

English-speaking participants most commonly cited gender as a fault line and Hispanic churchgoers’ ethnicity, the diocese said. “Although not all participants called for a change in the Church’s teaching on these matters, they did call for a change in approach and attitude,” its summary added.

Some said the church should adapt to modern times, while others were content with the status quo. Some said priests should be allowed to marry and women to serve as deacons and priests; others affirmed their support for an all-male, celibate priesthood.

Parents and relatives “expressed that their LGBTQ children did not feel welcome and included by the church,” said the Rev. Paul Manning, the Paterson diocese’s vicar for evangelization. “People were on both ends when it came to the morality of the issue, but certainly felt that ministry to and inclusion of the LGBTQ community was lacking.”

Not all the feedback was negative, he noted in summarizing the synod results. “Most Catholics long for Jesus and care for the Church,” Manning said. “That is the key message of the report.”

Trenton Diocese

Bishop David O'Connell of the Trenton Diocese is shown during a Confirmation mass at the Church of St. Martha in Point Pleasant Borough on October 26, 2018.

The Diocese of Trenton, which encompasses Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties, has a Catholic population of 774,000. Among the 4,500 participants’ most prominent concerns was that their children and grandchildren don’t practice their Catholic faith. “There is a dismay that the church doesn’t know what to do to attract and keep young people,” said the report.

The clergy abuse scandal and the crisis of credibility it generated was anther major theme. It “continues to be a source of pain for many, not only for victims and their families, but also for average lay Catholics and priests,” the diocese said. Some said they lost confidence in the church leadership because of the way the abuse crisis was handled.

Among the conclusions of the Trenton synod was that the church should consider married priests and reopen discussion about women serving as deacons and priests, along with other leadership roles.

“We need to continue to increase respect for women and their role in the Universal Church,” the diocese concluded. “The church must also do more to engage young people and offer them opportunities to be included. And finally, the church needs to be more welcoming to all, not only in words but in action.”

O’Connell, the Trenton bishop, said he wasn’t surprised by the criticism but also noted people’s “love for the Holy Eucharist and willingness to serve in various ministries.” The diocese must look to “build upon the strengths and good experiences expressed by participants.”

Camden Diocese

Many of the nearly 4,000 participants discussed the need for women in church leadership and also said the diversity of the local community is not reflected in their parishes. The diocese includes 475,000 Catholics in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.

A substantial number of people complained about the exclusion of LGBTQ and divorced individuals. The common recommendation was to create specific ministries where members can enjoy the richness of parish life, the church said.

“There appears to be a perception that the LGBTQ and divorced individuals cannot receive communion and participate in liturgy,” said the report. “Many expressed a need for improving the teaching on these subjects.”

Metuchen Diocese

The Metuchen diocese is composed of a Catholic population of roughly 650,000 and encompasses Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties. About 1,800 people participated in sessions, and many said the church is moving “too slowly” and is “too harsh,” but didn’t offer specific examples.

As in the other New Jersey dioceses, Metuchen participants were concerned about marginalized groups feeling “excluded” and said the church needs to become more hospitable, its report said.

People pointed to outdated language used by the church to refer to those who identity as LGBTQ as “disordered,” describing it as hurtful. Some respondents accused the church of being “out of step with the world” regarding gender issues.

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!

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The Catholic Church is at a crossroads

— Will it choose renewal or decline?

by John Kenneth White

Pope Francis has concluded a self-described “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada. For the 85-year-old mostly wheelchair-bound pontiff, the journey was taxing but necessary. In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported that for many years a “cultural genocide” occurred in Catholic schools, and confirmed the deaths of at least 3,200 indigenous peoples, with many others emotionally scarred for life. Upon his arrival, a solemn pope said, “I have come to your native lands to tell you in person my sorrow, to implore God’s forgiveness, healing and reconciliation, to express my closeness and to pray with you and for you.”

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has called for a “culture of encounter” that requires more listening than talking. He recently sent a letter to Fr. James Martin commending his outreach toward gay and lesbian Catholics, writing that such encounters, “even with those who think differently or those whose differences seem to separate or even confront us,” leads to a realization “that there is more that unites us than separates us.”

Using earthy language, the pope urges his priests to “be shepherds with the smell of sheep.” To that end, he ordered Catholic churches to begin two-year listening sessions, saying, “It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium.”

Giving lay people a greater voice has caused Pope Francis to break with precedent and appoint two nuns and one woman to the Congregation of Bishops, a body that recommends candidates to fill vacancies in the 5,300 dioceses around the world. Sister Yvonne Reungoat, one of the new members, said, “I think that to be a bishop one must have the ability to listen, both to those who have the same ideas and to those who protest.”

Pope Francis’s ministry of engagement has caused a great deal of discomfort. Ever since Joe Biden entered the White House, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has been torn asunder. On Inauguration Day, its president issued an ultimatum: “Our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender.”

For months, the bishops debated whether the Eucharist should be withheld from pro-choice Catholics. In May, San Francisco’s archbishop instructed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) not to present herself for communion “unless and until she publicly repudiates her support for abortion ‘rights’. . .and [receives] absolution for her cooperation in this evil in the sacrament of Penance.” Such dictums defy Pope Francis’s edict that the Eucharist is “not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”

At the nine-year mark of his pontificate, Pope Francis has acknowledged the unprecedented hostility he has encountered. Catholic scholar Massimo Faggioli calls those hostile to the pope “neo-traditionalists” who want a return to a pre-Vatican II era. Pope Francis, in turn, has described them as “backwardists,” warning, “A church that does not develop its thinking in an ecclesial way is a church that goes backward.” But conservative Archbishop Joseph Naumann pushed back, saying, “I think the pope doesn’t understand the U.S., just as he doesn’t understand the church in the U.S.”

The enmity Pope Francis has encountered is not surprising. Catholics, like most Americans, are creatures of comfort. We seek affirmation from the like-minded, whether it be in religion or politics. It is not surprising to know that MSNBC, whose audience is largely composed of Democrats, led the cable news ratings when the Jan. 6 hearings were televised. It is equally unsurprising that 78 percent of Republicans paid either “little” or “no attention” to the hearings, according to one poll.

Catholics similarly long to be among the like-minded. Today, Catholics no longer abide by church boundaries and seek parishes in which they feel comfortable. Being comfortable, however, often means not listening. In a rapidly changing world, the Catholic Church must encounter those who do not enter its church doors.

The Pew Research Center finds just 26 percent of Catholics attend church weekly, while 65 percent say they attend “a few times a year or less.” Another survey reveals 63 percent of Catholics believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases; only 31 percent think communion should be denied to politicians who support abortion rights; and 77 percent said Catholics who identify as LGBTQ should be allowed to receive the Eucharist.

Natalia Imperatori-Lee, a professor of religious studies at Manhattan College, says the rift between the laity and bishops on these issues “reveals a breakdown in communication and trust — shepherds who are far removed from the sheep.”

In his three-year ministry, Jesus Christ encountered numerous individuals shunned by society — including prostitutes, tax collectors and Roman soldiers. Pope Francis wants similar encounters. These can be discomforting. But it is important to remember that Catholics believe the Holy Spirit guides the selection of popes. The last three pontiffs taught the Catholic Church important lessons. St. John Paul II proved Josef Stalin wrong when he famously asked, “How many divisions does the Pope have?” The power of the Polish pope’s words marked the end of communism in Eastern Europe and the fall of the Soviet Union. Pope Benedict XVI gave Catholics a lesson in humility by becoming the first to lay down his palladium since Celestine V resigned the papacy in 1294. Pope Francis is giving Catholics a lesson in listening.

Whether the Catholic Church starts listening will determine whether it renews itself or begins a long, slow decline.

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Bishop gave priests ‘oppressive,’ Godfather-like offer they had to refuse

Jul 3, 2022; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Parishioners listen to a video taped message from Rev. Rene Costanza at the Newman Center, the parish and student ministry at Ohio State, letting them know that the diocese is being taken from the Paulist fathers during Catholic mass on July 3, 2022.

by Jack D’Aurora

In June 2021, when Catholic Archbishop José H. Gomez stated that President Joe Biden should not receive Communion because he is pro-choice, I wrote in an opinion piece, “Every day, someone in the Catholic Church’s hierarchy wakes up and says, ‘What can we do today to show how out of touch we are with our people and lose more of them?’”

Joining the sclerotic hierarchy is Bishop Earl Fernandes. Installed as bishop of the Catholic Diocese on May 31, 2022, he did the equivalent of kicking in the front door of the Newman Center just three weeks later.

On June 21—without ever talking with the Paulists or members of our community—he gave the four Paulist priests, who served at Newman for 66 years, until June 30 to wind up their administration. He later relented and gave them until July 12, and permitted them to celebrate Mass until July 31. But the Paulists had to vacate their diocese-owned home by Aug. 31.

When interviewed by Collen Marshall of NBC4 on July 10, the bishop communicated he wanted to partner with the Paulists, but they declined.What the bishop offered was oppressive.

The Paulists would be allowed to preach and hear confessions, but would require permission before performing weddings and funerals — a one-year arrangement the bishop could terminate at any time.

Jul 3, 2022; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Fr. Jimmy Hsu, CSP leads Catholic mass at the Newman Center, the parish and student ministry at Ohio State on July 3, 2022. The diocese is being taken from the Paulist fathers, an order of Catholic priests, who have run it for 65 years.

Remember the famous line from “The Godfather“: I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse?

Bishop Fernandes did just the opposite and made an offer he knew the Paulists could not accept.

His own actions reflect anything but an open attitude.

In his interview, the bishop referred to our members — some 800 Ohio State students and 600 residents of greater Columbus — as children who are upset with parental discipline. Which of these members is a child, and how is it the bishop imagines himself to be a parent?

Bishop Fernandes’ actions speak of arrogance, an aptitude for spinning facts, a profound lack of consideration for his people, and a condescending attitude. But you have to give him one thing: He has provided us with a shining example of how not be to be an effective leader.

The new bishop, Earl K. Fernandes, seated, is applauded by Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr, left, during his ordination and installation as the 13th bishop of the Diocese of Columbus on May 31, 2022.

Newman Center will now likely be less inclusive. Based on the document given the Paulists, Newman will endeavor to attract conservative groups such as FOCUS and Opus Dei. FOCUS advocates that gay individuals live chaste lives, and Opus Dei states that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.”

The bishop has written that even priests who merely offer support to gays are to be dismissed.

And the bishop is a proponent of celebrating the Mass in Latin. Nothing like going nearly 60 years back in time to the days of pre-Vatican II.

The diocese communicated to the Dispatch that “Out of respect for the Paulists’ privacy in the final masses with the community on July 30 and 31st, no media will be permitted inside the center or on the property.”

The Paulists would have welcomed the media.

It’s the bishop who didn’t want publicity for a standing room-only Mass, where tears were shed, and Ken Watkins, pastor of the adjacent University Baptist Church, applauded the Paulists, saying, “Newman Center has been the starship of campus ministry.”

I will no longer attend Mass at Newman, and though a cradle Catholic, I may join a different faith tradition.

If only the Catholic hierarchy would jettison its hubris and constricted thinking and focus on the gospel’s simple message of humility and inclusion.

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!