Portraits of Clergy Sex Abuse (Photo Essay)

By Nina Berman, AlterNet. Posted November 1, 2007.

Photographer Carmine Galasso's recent book, Crosses: Portraits of Clergy Abuse, shows the huge, personal price paid by survivors of clergy sex crimes and their struggle to seek justice from a Catholic Church intent on covering it up.

AlterNet is pleased to present the above multimedia show from Crosses and an interview with David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Nina Berman: There are many cases of individuals who are part of companies, or armies for that matter, who commit horrible crimes, and, invariably, the response by the institutional leadership is ... Well, it's just a few bad apples. How do you respond to the statement that the clergy sex abuse is just a few bad apples?

David Clohessy: First of all, no matter how you look at it, the word "few" is inaccurate. The church's own inadequate, inaccurate self-survey indicates at least 5,400 priests are proven, admitted or credibly accused child molesters. That's just the ones they acknowledge. Second, the crux of the crisis is the complicity of bishops, not the abusive priests. It's not "some bad apples." It's the barrel and the men who built and oversee the barrel.

Put another way, bishops cover up abuse because they can. Victims, parents, witnesses and Catholics who could call 911 instead report clear or potential abuse to church officials, giving those officials the time, knowledge, incentive and opportunity to hide the crimes. Those who instead turn to the justice system -- either criminal or civil -- often fail to expose predators and protect kids because of the archaic, arbitrary and dangerously restrictive statutes of limitations or because of timid, deferential or inept police or prosecutors. In either case, bishops end up, again, with the chance to abuse their power, protect their reputations, hide their assets, circle their wagons, consult their lawyers, and activate their public relations maneuvers and plans.

It is these men, the bishops, and their nearly unchecked power, that is the problem, not the "bad apple" priests.

Berman: In Crosses, there are many stories of victims being violated once by the priest/nun and then by the church, which fails to acknowledge and rectify the abuse. Why do you think the church does this?

Clohessy: The shortest answer is Lord Acton's observation that "absolute power corrupts absolutely."

The church is a worldwide monarchy. Each bishop is the king of his own kingdom. He answers to virtually no one. There are nearly 5,000 bishops across the globe. Their "supervision" comes every five years, when in small groups they meet face-to-face with the Pope. So there is no real oversight or monitoring of bishops. They can practically do anything they want and get by with it.

Any other institution -- a corporation, a nonprofit, even a government -- must eventually respond to pressure from its constituents. The Catholic hierarchy doesn't. Thousands of horrific felonies, callous cover-ups, distracting lawsuits, expensive settlements, and stunning media exposes have had little, if any, impact on the men at the top. No bishop takes fewer vacations, eats fewer restaurant meals, does his own laundry, or risks losing his prestigious job because of the ongoing clergy sex abuse and cover-up scandal. Given that fact, why would we expect them to change?

Berman: What dioceses are currently facing lawsuits?

Clohessy: Dozens of unresolved clergy sex abuse and cover-up lawsuits are still pending in Boston, Kansas City, Colorado, and elsewhere.

Berman: Can you describe a current or ongoing situation where a diocese has been notified of a problematic priest or nun and done nothing despite enormous evidence?

Clohessy: Consider Fr. Donald McGuire. As far back as 1969, his crimes were reported to his Jesuit supervisors. Last year, he was criminally convicted of molesting two boys. Twice in the last two months, he's been accused in civil lawsuits of molesting boys in Chicago as recently as 2003 and 2004.

Yet McGuire remains free while he appeals his conviction, and the Jesuits let him live with friends in a Chicago suburb. SNAP has repeatedly begged the Jesuits to force him into a secure, remote treatment center so that kids can be safe and that he can get therapy. They ignore our pleas.

Twice in the last three years, St. Louis' archbishop has put out-of-state, sexually troubled priests in an inner city parish with a parochial school, with no warning to the parishioners. (One had sexually assaulted a female parishioner who had got a settlement from the priest's home diocese. The other had been found with child porn on his computer.)

See more stories tagged with: rape, priests, church, bishops, clergy, slideshow, sex abuse

Nina Berman is a photographer and the author of Purple Hearts: Back From Iraq.

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