Religion

skepticscott

(13,029 posts) Sun Apr 7, 2013, 10:27 AM Apr 2013

Priest cases show abuse issues persist

When Will County sheriff's deputies found the Rev. William Virtue sneaking into a private quarry in 1986, police records state that the Roman Catholic priest had blankets, two six packs of beer and a 10-year-old boy with him. He fled on foot when officers arrived, leaving the child behind.

Authorities took Virtue into custody after he returned to his car but later released him without charges because the boy's mother said she had given her son permission to go swimming with the priest. Still, a deputy forwarded the report to Joliet Diocese officials who put it into Virtue's personnel file — which already contained several accusations involving inappropriate behavior with underage boys.

The arrest report would remain tucked away for 20 years as Virtue continued to have contact with youths, and even after a seemingly repentant Joliet Diocese pledged in 2002 to improve its handling of sex abuse cases and held up guidelines approved by American bishops as proof of its commitment to transparency and victims' needs.

Virtue's personnel file, which contains 500 pages of letters, memos and reports, reflects the struggles the church faced since its public vow to better protect children after a bruising, national sex abuse scandal. Records obtained by the Tribune reveal several instances in which the diocese's handling of abuse allegations contradicted those promises, adding to concerns about the overall efficacy of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People that U.S. bishops signed amid fanfare in June 2002

...

A Tribune investigation, which included reviewing more than 7,000 pages turned over in a settlement in an unrelated case, uncovered cases in which the Joliet Diocese failed to recognize the severity of allegations, made little effort to find victims and misled the public, raising concerns about the church's adherence to the charter's spirit.

...

In the 11 years since the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted the current "zero tolerance" guidelines, serious lapses have occurred in religious districts across the country. In 2011, a grand jury issued a report saying that at least 37 priests with "substantial evidence of abuse" in the Philadelphia Archdiocese were still in roles that bring them into contact with children.

A year later, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Mo., became the first U.S. bishop convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse, after he protected a priest who took lewd photographs of young girls in his parish. Finn was sentenced to probation for the misdemeanor but remains bishop.

And the beat goes on...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-secret-priest-files-20130407,0,3350460.story?page=1&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20netvibes%2Flocal%20%28NetVibes%20-%20Local%20news%29&utm_source=feedburner&track=rss