Angry and hurt over national reports of clergy abuse that have again rocked the Catholic Church to its core, dozens of residents confronted Bishop Patrick McGrath Saturday to demand transparency as the Diocese of San Jose prepares to launch its own investigation.
About 70 people — including alleged victims of abuse — gathered at Our Lady of the Rosary for a listening session hosted by the diocese to allow people to ask questions, express concerns and, in some cases, outrage over recent revelations of the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania and beyond.
Bishop McGrath, who responded personally to everyone who spoke Saturday, will host two additional listening sessions in San Jose next month amid a reignited debate over clergy sexual misconduct — and a systematic cover-up — by leaders in the church.
The diocese prohibited members of the media from taking photos or recording the listening session.
Responding to statements from parishioners who said the scandal has shattered their trust in Catholic leaders and others who said they’re leaving the church, McGrath said, “If people feel they have a better relationship with God outside of the church, I understand that.”
The Diocese of San Jose has enlisted former FBI Executive Assistant Director Dr. Kathleen McChesney and her firm, Kinsale Management Consulting to lead an independent investigation into the alleged abuse of minors or vulnerable adults within the diocese and how church leaders handled those misconduct claims. That decision didn’t sit well with parishioners Saturday who called it, “the church investigating the church.” Several speakers pressed McGrath to turn the investigation over to the Santa Clara County District Attorney or to a grand jury.
A list of eight clergymen released by the Diocese of San Diego earlier this month revealed that one priest remains active, even holding retreats in the Bay Area. Rev. J. Patrick Foley was accused of sexually molesting a couple’s young boys in 2010 in the Sacramento area, according to the San Diego Diocese. Foley faced a church tribunal but the investigation was inconclusive. While church leaders alerted police, nothing ever came of it, said the diocese.
One attendee, who asked not to be identified because she was afraid to lose her job at a Catholic Church in Santa Clara County, said all these revelations and attempts for reconciliation are long-overdue but that not everyone’s voice will be heard. The church has a way of burying controversies and clergymen protect one another from such controversies, she said.
“There are a lot of people who aren’t here for a lot of reasons,” she said at Our Lady of the Rosary Saturday. “The church knows how to play these games and how to silence people before they speak up. I think this is just another one of their games.”
One speaker said the decades-long scandal of sexual abuse is due in part to a lack of women in leadership positions within the church and an archaic requirement for priests to remain celibate their entire lives — claims that withdrew loud applause in the brightly-lit hall Saturday. He announced that he and his wife have decided to leave the Catholic Church.
Full story at San Jose Mercury News.
Sow the homosexual wind, reap the whirlwind. The worst hasn’t even come to light yet.
The article could be much clearer why some find fault with Ms. McChesney. What is the basis for saying her firm is ‘the Church investigating the Church’. In general, I totally agree to call the secular legal authorities first.
Also, I understand some deciding to leave.
More and more it’s looking to me like it’s all just a game to them. Everything.
“listening sessions”?? What is going on? It is about homoclergy, Catholic People, and the efforts to cover up this fact. The Catholic Church is overrun with homosexual clergy and those who conspire to cover up this fact. Not “pedophilia” or anything like that — just homosexual men who insist on becoming priests, who insist on practicing their perversions while priests and, for many, for attacking young boys while doing this. Bishop McGrath must answer this and why the Church tolerates any homosexual seminarian or priest.
This is the most inane comment of all:
McGrath said, “If people feel they have a better relationship with God outside of the church, I understand that”.
Bp. McGrath needs some formation, as a Catholic and as a shepherd!!
This is one of the many reasons why the Church is in such a mess.
Our bishop has been completely, utterly, totally ineffective at anything Catholic. He’s had a comfortable ride as bishop and he’s just hoping to get to retirement age without anything much worse happening so he can relax. Bishop SJW is what hes been.
I’m glad I’m not the only one troubled by that!
I have not been a great bishop PJ fan, but I actually thought he handled this meeting very well. He responded to each and every individual personally.
There was one individual who said he had been abused many decades ago in Albany, New York diocese, and seemed to vent on Bp. McGrath, something completely misplaced and unfair, but McGrath handled it with patience and concern. To my knowledge in the 30 years I’ve been in San Jose diocese, it’s very hard to blame Bp. McGraw for “ignoring” any abuse complaints; The problem is that true pedophiles are indeed sociopaths and very skillful at hiding their misbehavior.
“One speaker said the decades-long scandal of sexual abuse is due in part to a lack of women in leadership positions within the church and an archaic requirement for priests to remain celibate their entire lives — claims that withdrew loud applause in the brightly-lit hall Saturday. He announced that he and his wife have decided to leave the Catholic Church.”
At the end of the day, at the root of this or any other scandal is an intentional and deliberate departure from the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic faith. Apparently this guy is right on board with that.
That is what the devil wants.
Why won’t Church leadership be transparent and acknowledge the elephant in the room, homosexuality among Catholic priests and bishops? That’s a larger part of the current crisis than pedophilia or clericalism, yet that’s where the deflections and “spin” are directed. Lay people and good clergy must demand that the homosexual subculture among priests and bishops be exposed and stopped. Or else, serious sins and crimes are just being covered up again. Lay people aren’t stupid. They know when they’re being given PR statements instead of truth and they’re angry about it!