The National Review Board criticized Catholic bishops for failing to stop widespread clergy sex abuse over the past five decades. The watchdog panel of prominent lay leaders said the bishops? failure to stop the abuse was ?shameful to the church?. Catholic activists in New Hampshire say they?re still worried that the leadership of the Manchester Diocese isn?t taking responsibility for its role. New Hampshire Public Radio?s Raquel Maria Dillon reports.
The national report counted 10,667 abuse claims between 1950 and 2002. More than 4000 clergy members were accused of abuse, about 4 percent of the all Catholic clerics who served in the country over the course of five decades. More than 80 percent of the alleged victims were male and most said they were between ages 11 and 14 when they were assaulted.
According to a fact sheet the Diocese released in December 2002, the tally of accused New Hampshire priests still stands at 52 diocesan priests, plus a few priests from other diocese or orders, out of a total of 831 priests who served in the state between 1943 and 2002. That?s an incidence rate of 6.2% -- higher than the national average.
MCCORMACK :14 No one allowed it to happen knowingly. I think sexual abuse happened and as it got reported, we learned to deal with it and as we learned more about it, we learned to deal with it more effectively.
Manchester Bishop John McCormack says bishops must take responsibility for what happened in their diocese. And in a statement today he apologized again for any harm caused by priests. But many Catholic activists say they don?t think he?s sincere. Carolyn Disco is a member of New Hampshire Voice of the Faithful and Catholic for Moral Leadership.
DISCO :22 to use this euphemistic language, usually in passive voice, mistakes were made, I responded pastorally, I did best I could, I tried to help, when they know that?s patently false ? then it becomes difficult to accept sincerity. Just please tell plain simple truth.
Just over a year ago, a New York Times investigation put the percentage of accused priests in the Manchester diocese at 7.7% -- slightly higher than Boston?s incidence rate reported by Archbishop Sean O?Malley yesterday.
David France covered the clergy abuse scandal as an investigative editor at Newsweek magazine and wrote a book about it called ?Our Fathers.? He observed that the U-S Conference of Catholic Bishops struck a conciliatory tone in response to the national report today, but he says. the Manchester Diocese still has a leadership problem.
FRANCE :12 bishop McCormack is one of church leaders who?s had a difficult time moving from old stance to new stance. We see that with his interaction with parishioners in Manchester and throughout state.
Bishop McCormack says his diocese has encouraged survivors of clergy sexual abuse to come forward and report any incidents, and established special ministries to help them heal. For NHPR News, I?m RMD.
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