Well, Smokey, the Milwaukee Archdiocese tended to use stereotypical Jewish psychiatrists when I was in the seminary. But I've noticed that non-Catholics employed by the Catholic Church tend to be far more deferential to clergy, than are Catholic employees. From the 1960s through the early 1980s, the belief seemed to be that child molesters had a treatable mental illness. Several multimillion-dollar treatment centers were built by the U.S. bishops in the 1970s, and it was clear that bishops believed these centers would cure wayward priests. I think child molestation is a treatable mental illness - but it's clear now that treatment has a very limited success rate.
-Joe-
Here's a little more from that America Magazine Taking Responsibility article:Finally, the American bishops excused themselves by saying they made mistakes but were not culpable because of their ignorance. Sorry, this won’t wash. American Catholics wanted some bishops to stand up and say: “I made a mistake, I moved this priest to another parish, I did not think he would abuse again, I got bad advice, but I take full responsibility. I am sorry and I resign.”
If 30 bishops in the United States had done this, the crisis would not have gone on as long as it did. People would have said, “Good, that is what leaders are supposed to do. They get it. With a new bishop we can have healing and move on.”
Bishops have to be willing to sacrifice for the sake of the whole church. It is a scandal that Cardinal Law was the only U.S. bishop to resign because of this crisis. It is encouraging that four Irish bishops have submitted their resignations. Unless the church wants this crisis to go on for years in Europe as it did in the United States, some bishops will have to resign for the good of the church.
In an editorial titled The Millstone, published April 12, 2010, America's editors said that the Catholic Church needs to do these things (excerpts):
- Seek out the victims. Instead of waiting for victims of abuse to step forward, we should seek them out.
- Come clean. “There is nothing that is concealed that will not be revealed,” Jesus said. The image of the church has been so profoundly diminished that there is now no point in forestalling investigations or attempting to stamp out brushfires of scandal. Innocent lives have been desecrated.
- Be accountable. There are the sins of the clerics to contend with, but there is also the sin of clericalism that helped feed this crisis through silence and denial. Many bishops have persisted in their refusal to accept accountability for failure in supervision of priest personnel.
- Empower the laity. Lay participation in church governance is a conciliar value more honored in the breach than in the practice. That is no longer acceptable. The faithful must insist that parish and diocesan pastoral councils be activated and that they be given greater authority in canon law. Positions of real responsibility also need to be assigned to lay people and women religious for decision-making roles in church government. Humility should be a virtue for all to embrace just now, but especially for church leaders in seeking the guidance of the faithful.