Sex Abuse in the Church: An Open Discussion With Students
The emotion swept over her—raw and with little warning. The Saint Mary’s student and some 20 of her classmates met in the Soda Center on Nov. 8 for a difficult discussion on the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Like many others in the room, she had been raised Catholic and was deeply disappointed in the Church.
“It made me just want to shove away the world,” she said, tears swelling in her eyes. “I thought, ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with it.’ I wasn’t going to come today.”
“It takes a lot of trust to have this kind of conversation,” said Mission and Ministry Center (MMC) Director Karin McClelland. She was joined by Erin Osanna-Barba, SMC’s director of Sexual Assault/Interpersonal Violence Prevention Response; Campus Chaplain Father Hai Ho, OFMCap; Genesis Contreras ’21, MMC student leader; and Brother Charles Hilken, FSC, to help facilitate the small group discussions.
“We knew it was important to have diverse entities represented,” said McClelland, who wanted to foster a safe environment for open dialog and deep listening for students. The comments unleashed a broad range of emotion, from anger to hope that—after this latest scandal in Pennsylvania—widespread changes would finally be made in the Catholic Church.
Osanna-Barba credited the “Me Too” movement with providing a platform for young people to stand up and say “no more,” understanding that the focus, this time, is on the most vulnerable members of our society—children. “To have that trust broken...there’s just incredible sadness for the victims and what they’ve been through.” She urged all those present to recognize that some of those very real emotions might surface again in the discussions. “Be respectful,” she urged. “We’re here to listen.” She reminded the students that counselors were available that evening if they needed to step outside.
Once in small groups, the students shared their feelings and frustrations. “What can we do?” asked Contreras, who was confirmed in the Catholic Church in spring 2018 and is also doing research on the clergy sex abuse scandal for a course at SMC. “We recognize the abuse of power, and we’re not going to stand for it. But what can I do to make the Catholic Church better? I don’t want to just run away.”
A young man talked about the need for universal training for everyone in the Church who interacts with children. “We are a universal Church. I find it a little frustrating that there are different training programs in different dioceses,” he said.
A staff member shared that she’d once talked to a victim of clergy abuse. “He just wanted his story to be heard and believed,” she said, adding “there could be a victim in this room. Or someone who knows a victim. Walking with that level of sensitivity in the world is really important.”
Many brought up the subject of mercy toward the perpetrators. “Mercy is a big part of Catholicism, but there’s sometimes so much anger, how can there be mercy?” one student asked.
Father Hai shared his deep sadness as a priest: “the manipulation and horrific abuse of minors...the cover-up among certain clergy...and the ignorance in thinking perpetrators were rehabilitated.” Father Hai then reminded the group that this scandal first broke in 2002. “This time, the wound is much deeper, as it demands me to re-evaluate my role as a priest and member of an institution filled with saints and sinners.”
But Father Hai said it’s also important to be transparent about what the Church has done in the last two decades to protect children, noting the Charter on the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops website (http://www.usccb.org/). The Charter includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability, and prevention of future acts of abuse.
This was the second time this semester that members of the Saint Mary’s community met to discuss the impact of the clergy sex abuse scandal on our own community. There will be more scheduled conversations and presentations on this topic in the spring and fall of 2019 hosted by the Bishop Cummins Institute (Bishop John S. Cummins Institute).