Statement on Clergy Sexual Abuse

Below is our bishop's statement released last May concerning this dreadful topic.
May 6, 2010

I have been contacted by several members of the media who have requested that I make a public statement concerning my thoughts on the topic of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church specifically in reference to lines taken from a letter I wrote to Pope Benedict XVI on 02 November 2009. The letter was part of a series of letters I wrote to the Holy Father in relation to my request to be reconciled to the See of Rome after being consecrated a bishop without a pontifical mandate. Because the subject of clergy sexual abuse is too serious a topic for me to provide a short “sound bite” to the media I have written this more appropriate detailed statement:

As a survivor of clergy sexual abuse who is also a consecrated bishop in the traditional Catholic rite seeking full communion with the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church I have a unique perspective on the subject. Sadly my perspective has been born out of much pain and personal inner struggle due to my once and continued abuse from the clergy and bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. Like many survivors of clergy sexual abuse I have wrestled with some very serious questions: How could men of God do this? How is it possible that bishops continue to cover up abuse? Why, after reporting my abuse do the clergy and bishops continue to reject me? Should I remain in the Roman Catholic Church at all or should I free myself from the abuse and oppression I have experienced in this community?

So many people have tried to get me to adopt a position that will fit neatly into some existing, pre-packaged public relations campaign that supports one specific group affected by the crisis of clergy sexual abuse. I cannot do that. My experience is unique and I must be honest about my opinions even if my opinions are not well-received by one group or another. I will not be a victim ever again in connection to sexual abuse, even a victim of public opinion.

For decades the bishops in the United States covered up proven sexual abuse committed by priests under their jurisdiction. This conference-wide conspiracy of cover-up made it possible for generations of abusive priests to victimize countless children in the United States, including myself. There is no excuse whatsoever for their actions. In my opinion the bishops in this country are more guilty than the abusers. Why? …because for the most part abusers were isolated individuals acting alone in deplorable secrecy, but the topic of how best to cover up their crimes and to intimidate their victims into silence was on the proverbial agenda of discussion topics in the backroom of every bishops conference for years. It was the most spoken about unspoken topic for decades. That fact that it was so easy for these men to discuss this evil without any regard for the emotional death it caused children and families…quite frankly makes me want to vomit. How any bishop who participated in this cover up is still in power defies all reason.

I believe that the response of the bishops after the widespread crisis was exposed by the American media was just as deplorable as their cover-up. Here’s what I mean: Instead of admitting their evil, repenting, and fixing the problem, they washed their hands like Pontius Pilate and dumped the mess in the lap of civil authorities. Speaking from personal experience, prosecutors and diocesan attorneys often re-victimize the abuse survivors by their aggressive investigative tactics. I for one was not ready to make my abuse public. (Even this statement is only the “tip of the iceberg” of the details of my experiences as a child and teenager…not-to-mention the years of isolation and sexual intimacy and trust issues I found myself nearly drowning in. I’m no longer ashamed of talking about the period of sexual degradation I put myself through in trying to heal from my abuse, but this statement is not the moment to articulate those details.) When I reported my abuse I needed a loving shepherd, a pastor to help me deal with my nightmares, but no such man was to be found in the Roman Catholic Church. Instead I was humiliated by being forced to give statements to civil authorities and a diocesan lawyer. I couldn’t handle such pressure and told the diocese that I didn’t want my most humiliating experiences to be public knowledge, but no one cared. So, I only told a few details of my abuse hoping that I would be able to retain some of my personal dignity.

When I tried to speak to my spiritual director (a priest of the diocese) about what was going on, he turned me away telling me he could no longer meet with me. I then received a letter from the diocesan attorney stating that I was barred from having any contact with the priests of the diocese. So the Roman Catholic Church’s response to my abuse was to cut me off from any and all pastoral help and at the same time expel my entire religious community from parish life. They did offer me secular counseling. In fact the “victim assistance coordinator” for the diocese of Camden reached out to me by calling my secular employer and leaving a message for me with a co-worker. Her message was very detailed. In fact she told my co-worker exactly who she was and why she was trying to reach me! By the time I returned from my lunch break my abuse was the topic of discussion at my workplace. You can imagine how much this helped my healing process.

In my experience the bishops have made this crisis worse not only by their initial inaction but by their subsequent heartless response to the public scandal. I’m not fooled by the “prevention programs” and the agreements of understanding with civil authorities because I know how the Church really handles these issues. The cover-ups and abuse continue. In the Diocese of Camden the tactics to limit a victim’s ability to recover are despicable. The bishops have simply found new ways to conceal the abuse and the mistreatment victims receive from dioceses. It’s worse now than it was before the scandal broke, believe me. The difference is that they have found a way to use civil authorities as pawns and to manipulate public opinion. When are we going to wake up and realize that the generation of priest abusers who never got caught have become the current generation of bishops and that they are using their new Episcopal power combined with all the intimidation skills they learned as abusers to find new ways to punish victims and silence the people of God? They are experts in intimidation. As bishops they are simply finding new ways to rape the people of God. If you think that is an extreme opinion, just travel the Roman Church in America and talk to the people.

One sad effect of the bishops’ continued cover-up is the devastating financial impact the scandal has had on many dioceses throughout the country. Even though I do not support the idea of suing dioceses seeking monetary damages, I understand the motivation of victims and their attorneys. The Church has left little other recourse for victims. Where no money amount can ever make a victim of sexual abuse whole again, victims deserve a just compensation for their pain. Money should not be that compensation, but when love is at a premium in the Church money is the only viable worldly substitute. What is so disturbing is that fact that bishops (most of whom are independently wealthy) seem to have no problem raping the pocketbooks of the same families whose children have already been physically raped by their priests. I do not understand how it is acceptable in the Church for bishops to sell off parish churches and empty the coffers of long standing financially secure communities to pay for their crimes and then to condemn parishioners who fight against their efforts to plunder historic faith communities. The situation in the Diocese of Camden is a heart wrenching example of the Church’s failure to protect God’s flock from the rapists who have infiltrated the ranks of bishops. I have been forced to stand by, powerless to help my diocese…and watch her parishes crumble before my eyes because no one in the Church cares to intervene. The subculture of rapism cultivated by priests and bishops has emotionally crippled one generation of Catholics and financially crippled another. And while we are all busy dealing with the abuse crisis and its litigated aftermath no one has noticed that it has produced a societal generation that wants to keep its children as far away as possible from any priest. (…not to mention the discreetly engineered real estate scams that have made countless bishops wealthier in this country)

I make it a point to wear my religious habit or my clerical collar as often as I can in order to be available to anyone who needs spiritual support. I have lost count of the times that mothers have pulled their children close to them when they see me in public simply because it has become reasonable to equate a priest’s collar with sexual abuse. You have no idea how painful that is for me. I would gladly take my last earthly breath if it would end the pain of sexual abuse in the Church (as I’m sure most victims would if it could protect other children from what we have experienced), so to be put in the same category with abusers is like being told that it’s my fault that I was abused. It’s like being forced to pay for the sins of the men who abused me because the priest collar is no longer a sign of loving service but a scarlet letter. So many friends have tried to convince me to leave ministry and leave the Church, but I can’t. Even though my struggle to be recognized by Rome continues I will fight to remain a bishop of the Church because if I leave, who will protect the children who are left to fend for themselves? Can you name a bishop in the Roman Church who will? If you can, tell me and maybe I can leave in peace.

I have tried to reach out to the Vatican to tell my story and offer my help to defend victims. In November 2009 I wrote to Pope Benedict XVI telling him that based on my contacts with victims throughout the Church in the US---and by means of internet communications with victims in other countries---I did not believe that the abuse crisis was over. I stated that I believed that bishops were not reporting the facts and were still covering up abuse. When the situation in Ireland was reported in the world press I was outraged. However, I still do not believe that my brother in the episcopate, Joseph Ratzinger, is part of the problem. George Weigel’s recent article “Limits on papal power and inept subordinates” is of value here. Many outside the Church do not understand the dubiousness of the Church’s definition of Papal authority. It’s a mess really. This statement is not the moment to discuss the schizophrenic nature of the structure of canonical authority in the Roman Church. Suffice it to say that the Pope is as limited as he makes himself. Certainly the canons of the church limit the jurisdictional authority of the Pope, but the canons do not limit his ability to speak. The Pope must speak out definitively and denounce the bishops of the Church who perpetuate the sexual abuse crisis. In my opinion he should start by removing the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.

There is another aspect of the sexual abuse crisis that we fail to acknowledge. The tolerance of sexual abuse in the Church is symptomatic of an oppressive man-dominated intellectual rapism that has crept its way into many aspects of the Church’s life. The same system of thought that excused and covered up the abuse of children is responsible for the oppression of women and the destruction of real family values in the Roman Catholic Church. If we continue to allow children, courageous women, and struggling families to be objectified and marginalized by the hierarchy (who treat them like a wrench in the cogs of some unrealistic moral superiority) we will doom humanity to repeat the fall of Eden generation after generation. We cannot move forward as a Christian community until we have the strength to admit that the fall of humanity was not the result of the weakness of a woman or the blindness of a man, but the result of the jealousy and fear of a serpent. (…a serpent who represents the arrogance of, a primordially male, material lust for power and control over others).

In order to combat and repair the (repairable) damage caused by the sexual abuse crisis, we have to begin to live and preach real love and forgiveness. We must preach not the “new” evangelization but the true evangelization. This includes dealing honestly with the moral issues that seem to strangle the breath of societal growth. It certainly includes defeating the morally and socially oppressive actions exhibited by many fearful bishops who have lost touch with reality and with the love that is Christ.

With hope for the future, I am,
+Tomas-Martin, OPD
Bishop of the Order of Penance of Saint Dominic