Put Not Your Trust in Princes – November 9, 2018

“Put not your trust in princes…”  This verse from Psalm 146 came to me this week as I reflected on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) upcoming meeting in Baltimore November 12-14.  On the bishops’ agenda for their annual fall meeting are prayer, discernment, debate and a vote on concrete measures to respond to the abuse crisis – such as a third-party reporting mechanism, standards of conduct for bishops, and protocols for bishops resigned or removed because of abuse. 

I’m not sure what to hope for.  It’s hard for me to imagine anything the bishops could do to restore my faith in them as leaders for our church.

Today the term “Princes of the Church” refers to Catholic Cardinals, but, historically, it was a generic term for all clergymen. And that’s the problem.  That is clericalism — thinking you are a prince, not a servant.  Thinking you are special, set apart, above the law. 

I am particularly disheartened by Bishop Richard Malone’s refusal to resign, despite calls for him to do so from victim-survivors, laity, and even some of his own priests and deacons. Malone and the Diocese of Buffalo are currently under scrutiny by federal investigators.  Among the accusations are that the diocese under Malone’s leadership mishandled abuse cases, maintained a “secret archive,” and withheld the names of dozens of priests accused of abuse.  And this didn’t happen a long time ago.  It was in March 2018 that Malone released the names of 42 priests who had credible accusations against them, instead of 118 known to the diocese. 

In May 2018 a former employee of the diocese, Siobhan O’Connor, leaked highly incriminating internal emails to reporters after becoming concerned that Malone had left accused priests in ministry and purposely excluded others from the list of 42 names he made public in March. Watch her compelling interview on “60 Minutes”.

Adding insult to injury is the terrible irony is that Malone has served on the USCCB Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People.  He is one of the speakers on the original 2002 “Protecting God’s Children” video that is part of the safe environment training for all employees and volunteers who work with children and teens in our church.   He has been edited out of video as of this writing.  But in our diocese alone over 35, 000 people have seen and heard Malone say, “Among God’s greatest gifts to us are our children… Child sexual abuse happens in the most unlikely places and is committed by people we fully expect to be trustworthy.  It happens in day care centers, in our schools, in our youth program, in our homes and in churches of every tradition… Unless we bring child sexual abuse out into the open, we cannot hope to protect those we love most.” 

Malone said those words but he did not live them out. Rather he and diocesan lawyers worked hard to keep child sexual abuse (and the abuse of vulnerable adults) hidden.

The hypocrisy and deceit make me sick with anger.

I pray for the bishops.  But I put my trust in the Holy Spirit of God – working and through those who are demanding reform, like whistleblower Siobhan O’Connor.