Revictimizing the Victims of Sexual Abuse
Janet E. Smith
MAY. 20, 2020
Bishops and dioceses must answer the phone calls of victims,
meet with them, hear their stories and empathize with them.
That is not too much to ask.
"Victims of sexual abuse by clergy frequently have told me that the way they were treated by bishops has hurt them more than the abuse did.
Virtually every bishop has made the announcement that he is dedicated to helping victims who have been sexually abused by priests and that he has put considerable resources toward that effort. Unfortunately, from what I have heard from too many victims, some bishops are quite adept at virtue-signaling and at making empty promises.
Examples of the unresponsiveness of dioceses to victims are available in nearly every documentary on the sex-abuse crisis. One of the first and most devastating I watched was The Keepers on Netflix, which explores the unsolved murder of a religious sister who taught at an all-girls high school in Baltimore in the late 1960s. The series holds that the sister was killed because she suspected that the priest/principal was repeatedly abusing one of the students and was preparing a report for the archdiocese. Some 20 years later, when the woman who was abused by the priest reported it to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, officials were sympathetic but claimed that they could not verify her story. The woman’s nine siblings sent about 1,000 postcards to other women who had studied at the same high school during the tenure of the priest/principal and asked if they had anything to report about sexual abuse during their time there. Dozens came forward then, and even more came forward after the documentary. Why could not the diocese have done such an investigation? (The Archdiocese of Baltimore defends itself here.)
That event was decades ago, but the pattern of behavior remains all too common.
One reason Siobhan O’Connor of Buffalo, New York, shifted from the role of loyal secretary to Bishop Richard Malone to whistleblower who helped effect the bishop’s resignation is that she discovered the phone line on which victims were to report abuse went to an answering machine in a warehouse and was listened to by no one.
When she started taking the calls of victims and looking at the files of the accused priests, she realized that Bishop Malone’s promises of support for victims were flat-out lies; there were multiple accusations in files that had never been addressed. And then she found a large binder with accusations against priests in a broom closet — clearly out of reach of anyone trying to verify accusations.
I know of victims who have repeatedly attempted to schedule a meeting with a bishop only to have their many emails and calls go unanswered. Often they are answered only when a lawyer or distinguished Catholic makes the contact for them. How many victims simply become discouraged and disappear? Not only is the injustice to them not addressed, it is magnified — the victims are revictimized — and a true counting of the extent of abuse is made impossible.
I recently heard from an ex-nun who had been sexually abused by her religious superior nearly two decades ago. When she contacted the diocese where the abuse occurred to ask for an appointment to speak with the bishop, the secretary who answered said, “That is not our protocol. The bishop does not meet with adult victims.”
There was no expression of sorrow about the sexual abuse the caller was reporting. The victim got the same response when speaking with the priest assigned to deal with victims. She was devastated that, after having spent months getting up her courage to tell her story, she was so summarily dismissed. Eventually, due to the interventions of a few others, the bishop relented and called the victim.
What could be the reason for such a protocol? Are there just simply too many victims? If so, meet with them in groups, but meet with them! And train your staff to respond with compassion to those who call."
More at link:
https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/revictimizing-the-victims-of-sexual-abuse