For many survivors of abuse by priests, the journey started 13 years ago in a Matteson hotel room where about 20 strangers from across the nation gathered to discuss what had previously been suffered in silence.
It crescendoed Friday with the resignation of a man widely acknowledged to hold one of the most powerful posts in American Catholicism, the prelate who had the ear of Pope John Paul II, and whose name, at one time, was mentioned among his possible successors.
The fall from grace of Cardinal Bernard Law–who stepped down after 18 years at the helm of the Boston archdiocese–is also the story of the rise of the survivor movement. It is a vindication of sorts for those who had long been silenced by shame and guilt.
“It’s a significant moment, and one that’s long overdue,” said Barbara Blaine, the founder of SNAP–the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests–the nation’s largest group of abuse victims. Molested as a teen by her Toledo, Ohio, parish priest, Blaine encouraged others like her to speak up until the chorus grew so loud that the church’s claim of sexual predators being just “a few bad apples” no longer rang true.
For that, she is hailed by some as the Rosa Parks of the survivor movement.
“We’re here because of Barbara Blaine,” said Rev. John Bambrick of Manalapan, N.J., who was abused at age 15 by his spiritual mentor.
Lee White, who recently settled a 10-year-old lawsuit against the diocese of Providence, R.I., has suggested nominating her for a Nobel Peace Prize.
“It’s a great day for survivors,” he said. “That would not have happened without her.”
Boston crisis wasn’t the first
To be sure, others played significant roles in documenting the magnitude of priestly pedophilia since the first high-profile abuse scandal broke in 1985 with the trial of Rev. Gilbert Gauthe in Louisiana. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and his victims were awarded $18 million in damages.
A year later, Jason Berry, a New Orleans journalist, spotlighted the problem with a book, “Lead Us Not Into Temptation,” that chronicled the scandals. Not long after, Rev. Thomas Doyle–then a canon lawyer at the Vatican Embassy in Washington–issued a voluminous report urging that offenders be moved away from children.
Then-Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago addressed the issue when he created a review board for such cases in 1992; the board became a model for other Catholic dioceses.
But each time a new crisis ignited, the church dismissed it as an aberration, and public interest waned. Then in January, news broke about hundreds of victims in Boston who were allegedly abused by priests John Geoghan and Paul Shanley and whose abuse was hushed up by Law. A wave of disclosures followed nationwide, and Americans refused to look away.
Blaine, now an attorney in the Cook County Public Guardian’s office, did not see Law’s resignation Friday as closure to a sordid chapter, nor does she believe that the problem of abusive priests is solved.
“Unless victims continue to make their experiences known, the stepping down of Law will no more rid the church of sexual abuse than [Richard] Nixon’s resignation put an end to corruption in politics,” Blaine said.
Priest: `Thanks be to God’
Accountability must come from prosecutors aggressively pursuing allegations and legislators changing laws so rogue priests no longer can hide behind the 1st Amendment, she said.
Most of all, Blaine said, it is critical that church officials release victims from confidentiality agreements.
“Many church leaders–including [Chicago Cardinal Francis] George–have not done so, and they need to make it clear that there will be no reprisals for victims who speak out,” said Blaine, whose molester has since been defrocked. She reached an out of court settlement with the Toledo diocese in 1994.
Bambrick, 37, greeted the news about Law with the Latin phrase for “thanks be to God.” Law’s departure had been a long time coming, the priest said, “but that justice had finally been served. You can only escape it for so long–either in this life or the next.”
He predicts more resignations. “Boston was just the incubator,” Bambrick said. “Who knows what else the bishops are keeping from us?”
He wants to see every offender removed from an assignment where he can be a threat to children. Until recently, the cleric who abused Bambrick was serving as a chaplain at a pediatric hospital in Texas.
White called Law’s resignation “a watershed moment.”
Still, he said, “there is nothing to celebrate.”
“While this will bring about some healing, some 400 lives have been ruined–and nothing will change that.”
