“A responsible path”

adminonDecember 14, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Symbol image abuse in the church © Annnna_11 (shutterstock)

The Harrisburg diocese becomes the first diocese in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania to file for bankruptcy. This is because of an appeals court ruling that allows victims to sue dioceses in the state for sexual abuse.

The move is a responsible way for the diocese to continue doing spiritually and charitably everything it has been doing, according to the diocese's attorney, Matthew Haverstick.

Several new lawsuits to follow

The background to the bankruptcy case is a recent appeals court ruling that allows victims to sue the state's dioceses for past sexual abuse by priests. Pennsylvania's legislature had not provided for that until then. Statute of limitations prevented victims from right to compensation until recently.

For the Diocese of Harrisburg, the appeals court ruling has resulted in several new lawsuits, Haverstick explained. Any single lawsuit would have resulted in "catastrophic consequences" for the diocese.

U.S. scouts file for bankruptcy

Other states have changed laws and opened windows for abuse lawsuits, including New York and New Jersey. This week, the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy protection. They face thousands of lawsuits due to the extended time frames.

Pennsylvania sparked statewide headlines in 2018 when a grand jury report concluded that more than 300 priests in the state's six dioceses were over 1.000 children had been sexually abused over the past decades. Prosecutors in nearly every state had responded by searching for incriminating documents in numerous dioceses.

Compensation will be lower

Bankruptcy proceedings will result in a freeze on all pending victims' lawsuits, and compensation will be served from the bankruptcy estate, which will then be reduced.

The Diocese of Harrisburg said last August it has already paid $12 million in compensation to more than 100 abuse victims.

Since 2004, 20 U.S. dioceses have sought bankruptcy protection according to BishopAccountability. The organization documents abuse cases by the U.S. Catholic Church. Prior to Harrisburg, the Diocese of Rochester in New York state went bankrupt in September 2018.

It really couldn't have come at a worse time. With a television interview conducted from France, the former bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe (74), caused a storm of indignation. Belgium's Justice Minister Stefaan De Clerck called for consequences from the church, church leaders expressed speechlessness and horror.

On Thursday evening, the private Flemish television station VT4 surprised viewers with the exclusive interview, which was conducted in the central French town of Salbris. Somewhere in the Loire Valley, Vangheluwe has been staying in a monastery since the Vatican recently ordered him to leave Belgium in a first measure and to receive spiritual and psychological care. Abuse victims had derided this measure as "vacation like God in France". Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi hastened to are that further measures could follow.

Vangheluwe himself, however, sees no reason in the interview to be transferred back to the lay state. Even the psychological support seems excessive to him. After all, he said, the assaults had ended 25 years ago, and he could not understand why now, a quarter of a century later, he should suddenly need treatment.

"Started as a game"
It all started "as a game," says the 74-year-old when asked how it all began in 1976 with his nephew, who was five years old at the time. Because there were not enough sleeping accommodations, the nephew had lain with him in bed during family visits. 13 years went by in what Vangheluwe described in the interview as, "It was not raw sexuality." This had not gone far, "it was a bit of a relationship". And finally: Yes, in the beginning a few times, this had also "happened a little bit" with a second nephew.

Jurgen Mettepenningen, a Belgian theologian and spokesman for the Belgian Bishops' Conference for a short time last year, said he felt sick to his stomach after the interview. Josef De Kesel, Vangheluwe's successor as bishop of Bruges, spoke of powerlessness, grief, pain, horror. His brother bishop Harpigny, bishop of Tournai, expressed the suspicion that Vangheluwe was a seriously ill man. All expressed shock at the effect the interview must have had on victims of abuse.

Great consternation
The conversation also caused consternation in Belgian politics. The church must react, demanded Justice Minister De Clerck and Defense Minister Pieter De Crem, both center politicians. The Socialists have demanded that the ex-bishop's pension of around 2.800 euros a month to block. Greens and liberals also expressed horror and concern.

Victim advocates pointed out that some of what Vengheluwe said could not be true and had long since been disproven. The responsible public prosecutor's office was quoted in the media as saying that the second case of abuse, which has now been admitted, is also time-barred under criminal law.

Numerous new cases of abuse
For Belgium's church, Vangheluwe's appearance is more than inconvenient. A year ago, his resignation triggered a scandal that is still far from being resolved. Tongues loosened in the wake of his confession. Numerous new cases of abuse in the church came to light – most of them long time barred by the statute of limitations. The Belgian judiciary used sometimes brutal methods to investigate whether there had been a cover-up on the part of those responsible for the church. A parliamentary committee of inquiry spent months investigating the events; only a few weeks ago it presented its final report.

Behavior bishops criticized the Vatican, which took a long time to draw conclusions from the abuse case Vangheluwe. Antwerp Bishop Johan Bonny let it be known publicly that he missed a word on the seriousness of the crime and an apology to the victims in the communication on the first measures taken against the ex-bishop. Bishop Guy Harpigny of Tournai now expressed the hope that the Vatican would react "as it should".

Pope John Paul II. Was apparently not fully informed about the abuse allegations against the founder of the "Legionaries of Christ". This is according to a Vatican document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In the letter of 17. In a November 2007 statement published Tuesday by the Italian daily Il Giornale, the prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal William Levada, informed the canonization authority that John Paul II. was in no way personally involved in the proceedings against Marcial Maciel Degollado. However, there had been some letters addressed to the pope with accusations against the Mexican founder of the order. Whether these reached the church head, is not clear from the letter Levadas. The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had responded with the letter to a request from the curia authority in the course of the beatification procedure for John Paul II. replied. Critics had claimed that the head of the church from Poland had protected Maciel and thus prevented decisive action against him. Long history According to Il Giornale, former seminarians of the Legionaries of Christ had already written letters to the Pope in 1978 and 1989. In 1998, some victims made an official petition to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Today's Pope Benedict XVI. In his time as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he initiated a canonical investigation against the founder of the "Legionaries". After the change of pontificate in 2005, Levada, as successor to Joseph Ratzinger, continued the investigations. Maciel had been accused of sexually abusing seminarians. Thereupon the Vatican had reprimanded the order founder 2006. In addition, in March 2010, the first part of an apostolic visitation of the "Legionaries of Christ" was completed, a kind of investigative procedure of the Vatican. The results of this investigation are currently being evaluated at the Vatican. In November 2009, the general director of the "Legionaries of Christ," Alvaro Corcuera, apologized to the victims. At the end of March 2010, the "Legionaries of Christ" officially distanced themselves from their founder. They also confirmed that he was the father of three children. Maciel had died in the U.S. in early 2008 at the age of 87. He had always denied the accusations.

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