Bishop Alvaro Corrada speaks out ...on the question of clerical resignations

Article in the Catholic East Texas newspaper Vol. XV No. 15, June 17, 2002, pg. 2

From June 12-15, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will gather for its summer meeting in Dallas. Bishops of the 194 dioceses in the United States, along with auxiliary bishops and retired bishops, will attend, for a total of about 300 bishops, archbishops and cardinals. Our conference brings us together twice a year to handle all ecclesiastical and secular matters that concern American Catholics.

This meeting of the conference will be examined minutely by all Catholics and non-Catholics alike because of the problem of sexual abuse that we will tackle.

My position as bishop in regard to sexual abuse of minors is that there is no place for ministry as deacon, priest or bishop for those who have committed this crime and sin. With good reason, not only Catholics but also the general public is angry with the Catholic bishops for not adequately supervising our clergy.

As bishops, we have to prevent and stop these types of crimes and sins from going on, and from continuing unreported to the police for investigation and prosecutions. As bishops we must not transfer from one place to another bishops, priests or deacons who commit such crimes.

During the USCCB meeting in Dallas, much will be said in the media, and as Catholics we should be aware of who we are when we try to account to others for our faith and church. Our response as Catholics should be personal and direct, coming out of our history and experience to witness to the truth of our faith, hope and love in Jesus Christ our Savior.

However, a reality check, a background check on who we are, the Catholic Church in the U.S., is necessary to center ourselves and to act in justice and love on these issues.

My early experience of the Catholic Church in the United States was through old movies. Yes, Hollywood! Bing Crosby in the Bells of St. Mary's, Boy's Town and Waterfront Priests. It was a church seen through the experience of immigrants to our American urban cities in the forties and fifties, a church that was working from the wings of the American theater of life, not at center stage. Furthermore, the silver screen showed a church that represented harmony and an almost angelic presence in the middle of a city of greed, abandonment and crime.

Today the Catholic Church has moved from the fringes of the theater of life onto center stage as the largest organized religious body and the most influential non-government organization in the U.S. We are more than 62 million Catholics, growing by a million a year. The next-largest organized denomination is only a quarter our size.

Because the Catholic Church in the U.S. is the nation's biggest and most powerful body of believers, we are on center stage in the marketplace of America. We are right there in the big Mall-of-America, with one of the biggest stores in the mall. We have to answer to God and to people for our actions publicly.

The Catholic Church has about 20,000 parishes in the United States, with over 62 million members' and it's still growing. In a population of about 300 million, this is big business. We educate more than 3.5 million people a year in our many Catholic elementary, middle and high schools and in over 230 colleges and universities. We are the largest private education organization in the land. Catholic education is a more than $13 billion business. We have 637 hospitals and account for over 17 percent of all hospital admissions in our country. Our heath care institutions have expenses of over $65 billion a year.

Our Catholic Charities organizations run soup kitchens, shelters, childcare, refugee resettlement and many other works of mercy to the poor as the biggest organized private charity in the nation. Catholic Relief Services is the biggest charitable organization that America has to help other countries in the world.

This means we are not a private country club church just for registered members willing to pay dues. We are a "public" institution open to all peoples willing to participate in the public arena contributing to the well-being and salvation of all. We are a big player in our American way of life.

We therefore have to be open to and accept legitimate criticism. Especially in the area of sexual abuse, we have to take it in the face for doing wrong. We have to be credible and transparent in what we do so that where we teach, we will be able to help our neighbors to love God and each other. We have to deal in public with problems like sexual abuse because we are in the public forum of our society and the members of that society depend on us to deal with these problems. The vicar of Christ on earth, the bishop of Rome, Pope John Paul II who is our voice of unity and authority on earth under God, has spoken, saying that there is no place for priests and bishops who betray their call with such abuses in the ministry of the church.

Some years ago I remember seeing Cardinal Bernard Law in front of the Boston Cathedral being pelted with condoms by groups that oppose the teachings of the Catholic Church on abortion, homosexuality and birth control. Yet our religious, moral and ethical positions are not just private codes of conduct, but the universal teaching of Jesus Christ. About a month ago, we saw Cardinal Law on TV again, this time asking forgiveness and confessing his fault for allowing two priests who abused minors sexually to continue to minister while preying on the young.

Recently, a priest on a TV talk show called for the resignation of Cardinal Law and at least 10 other bishops at next week's meeting in Dallas. In the privacy of my living room, I put up my hand immediately to volunteer. The life and work of a bishop is not easy. Who would want to be a shepherd in today's climate? We are not hearing the bells of St. Mary's any more, but rather a torrent of verbal attacks. Fortunately, a priest on the same talk show pointed out that "scapegoating" is not in the tradition of Catholicism. I put my hand down and prayed.

I do not think that Cardinal Law should resign as archbishop of Boston. He is at the center of the controversy and even if he has made mistakes in reassigning priests, it was not his intention to allow misconduct to continue or to cover any crime. He has to carry the cross and help us to act with justice and love at this moment.

As a man of faith, living in the 21^st century in a powerful country and technological culture, I place no demonic powers or have religious fears based on human or natural disasters or crimes. But seeing a cardinal and the church on TV and in the courts because of the crimes and sins of bishops and priests is scary and threatens the credibility of the church to witness the truth of our faith.

In our June meeting, cardinals, bishops, priests, and all Catholics are called into action by Christ and his vicar to practice what we teach and believe. I think Cardinal Law is needed to help us, the Pilgrim Church of Christ, to prepare this country we love so much for the wedding feast of Jesus, the Lamb of God. We are the grooms and maids called to get the Bride, the church, ready for the coming of the Bridegroom, Jesus. Let us rejoice in our trials and times of troubles because the Spirit calls the Bride from the depths of our world reality and sin.