Increasingly, legal experts say, organizations flooded with a vast number of lawsuits accusing them of wrongful harm are relying on the bankruptcy system — not the civil legal system, as is typical — to devise settlements. By filing for bankruptcy, those entities are offered a path that shields them from future civil litigation, in part because bankruptcy is rooted in the idea that someone facing losses should have an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. In filing a brief in support of Purdue Pharma, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said these types of settlements offered a chance to fairly compensate survivors of sexual abuse while ensuring the longevity of the Catholic church . . . "the only viable means for the Catholic infrastructure in many communities to survive what has become decades of mission-crippling litigation".

The pope said it also is essential to “pursue the ascertainment of the truth and the restoration of justice in the ecclesial community, including in those cases where certain behaviors are not considered crimes by the law of the state, but are under canon law.” Efforts to help survivors heal are “a work of justice,” the pope told the group. “Precisely for this reason it is important to prosecute those who commit such crimes, especially in ecclesial contexts.” The perpetrators themselves “have the moral duty of a profound personal conversion that leads to recognition of their own vocational infidelity, to the resumption of the spiritual life and the humble request for forgiveness from the victims of their actions,” he said. Also, he said, efforts must continue to train priests and all pastoral workers in safeguarding so that “a genuine cultural change is promoted, placing at the center the smallest and most vulnerable in the church and in society.

The safeguard of confession. Too often, commentators quickly assume that mandatory reporting is the one fail-safe solution to deter abuse. While it’s clear why this has become a push for many activists, scholars focused on mandatory reporting have cautioned against simplistic conclusions. One study, for example, found measurably fewer confirmed reports of child maltreatment in the 11 states requiring clergy to report all or some of the time — compared with states without the requirement. What people may not understand is that by forcing clergy to become mandated reporters, we could inadvertently keep even more abuse hidden as abusers go underground. Likewise, it’s possible that a space for open confession may provide additional protection to victims by ensuring space exists for clergy to encourage bad actors to turn themselves in or helping to catch and deter concerning behaviors that could spiral.

The Archdiocese denies the allegations in legal filings. “I have not yet received a credible allegation against a priest, although I have received allegations,” the Archbishop said. When asked how many cases the Archdiocese has received in that time, he said there have been seven or eight accusations the church has had to investigate. The Archdiocese’s process for responding to an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor involves reporting the allegation to civil authorities and removing the accused priest from active ministry while an investigation is conducted by a qualified investigator. Asked why the Archdiocese has not published a list of credibly accused clergy, the Archbishop said that no one has given him a reason for doing so. “The most important thing is that our young people are being protected and that those who abuse are kept out of ministry for doing that,” he added.

In the realm of sexual crimes, a stark contrast exists in the level of media attention and public awareness when the perpetrators wear different hats, specifically, the robes of the Catholic Church versus the more secular attire of public school teachers or individuals from diverse spiritual beliefs. When allegations of sexual misconduct arise within the Catholic Church, the media responds with a resounding uproar that reverberates globally. Cases involving Catholic priests make headlines, sparking international outrage, and prompting discussions about accountability and reform. Furthermore, authors exploring themes of scandal and controversy within the Catholic Church frequently experience an unexpected surge in international fame.

A closer look at the largest survey of U.S. Catholic priests in 50 years has revealed “a major shift in how priests view themselves and their priesthood,” said researchers. Compared to their older peers, younger priests are far more likely to describe themselves as theologically orthodox or conservative, politically conservative or moderate, and prepared to be “first responders” to the abuse victims they encounter in their ministry. Furthermore, researchers noted “a significant proportion of American priests say that they had ‘personally experienced sexual harassment or abuse or suffered sexual misconduct’ during their formation or time in seminary.”

Seminaries currently have courses on pastoral theology or pastoral care, pastoral ministry and introduction to counseling “that’s very useful” to seminarians. However, trauma-informed care isn’t a part of current seminary formation, which they found would better prepare seminarians. “Trauma-informed pastoral care has been very recently developed in the last five to 10 years,” Berg explained. “So, this is not a criticism of seminaries, it’s just to say that there’s a lot of good stuff available out there, and it’s really helpful and it’s not hard to get your hands on, and we just need to get this into the thick of seminary pastoral formation and ministry.”

“It is our duty, everyone’s responsibility, to give voice to our voiceless sisters: women who are victims of abuse, exploitation, marginalization, and inappropriate pressure,” Pope Francis said. “Let us not remain indifferent! It is necessary to act now, at all levels, with determination, urgency, and courage.” According to the United Nations, nearly 1 in 3 women worldwide has been subjected to some form of either physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, a statistic that does not include sexual harassment.

No system is perfect, so cases are likely to crop up at least periodically. But the archdiocese has put in place a strong infrastructure for preventing and dealing with misconduct cases as — and if — they arise. I can no more turn my back on the church when it faces times of brokenness than I can turn my back on my family because of wrongdoing by some of my relatives. Indeed. The church is much bigger than the sinful perpetrators who have hurt and devastated the lives of children and others in the archdiocese. It belongs to us, and it is waiting to help us heal.

"I like to recall the very first words with which Pope Benedict described himself following his election: 'a humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord.' Indeed, Christians, especially the Pope, the Cardinals and the Bishops, are called to be humble labourers: to serve, not to be served and to put the fruits of the Lord’s vineyard before their advantage." Pope Francis

A first-term Democratic lawmaker wants to enact an exception to state laws that allow clergy to refuse to disclose what was told to them in confession or similar confidential communication. But Rep. Stacey Travers of Phoenix has so far run into a procedural wall. Rep. Quang Nguyen, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, where her bill was assigned earlier this year, refused to even give it a hearing. "The seal of confession is a sacred, sacred part of the Catholic church," said Nguyen who is Catholic. "The seal of confession is never to be broken," he said. "And priests will go to jail for it."

The only person charged after a decade-long RCMP investigation into claims of abuse at the school — one of the most expensive RCMP investigations in the history of the province. Are these charges being laid now to buttress the narrative many priests and nuns were abusers? Is that narrative true? With all the stories about sexually abusing priests, for example, one would expect that list to be very long. One would expect to find hundreds, or even thousands, of priests convicted of sexual crimes. In fact, there is only one priest and one Christian lay brother on that entire list for the 100+ years that the schools operated.

Before he was elected, Pope Francis wrote about how there is a very clear distinction between sin and corruption. Pope Francis says, no, sinners need forgiveness, but you can't just forgive corruption and move on. If you're a priest, your job is to forgive and to reconcile. We're professional reconcilers. So our tendency, by nature, is to try to find a way to apply mercy to a situation through forgiveness. But what's often needed instead is to shine the light in the darkness, and to expose the corruption for what it is, so that we can then move forward, as sinners. We can move forward together as sinners — but we can't move forward together as a diocese if we’re corrupt, and it’s not acknowledged.

The pope put aside his prepared remarks to address “a problem that is very serious on this matter of abuse, the filming of child pornography. These children who are recorded, are victims, sophisticated victims of this consumer society." Sexual abuse of minors is “one of the greatest scourges” of society today. Pope Francis recalled the “sad reality” of abuse cases in the church and in the world, objecting to people who may say, “ah, there aren’t so many. If it were only one, it would already be scandalous, just one, and there are more than one,” he said.

The 2022 Annual Report considers allegations made between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022. It found that there were 16 allegations made by minors during that time, seven of which were substantiated. That means that of the 52,387 members of the clergy (34,344 priests and 18,043 deacons), .013 percent of them had a substantiated allegation made against him.

Diocesan archives are required to preserve, and then purge, the notes, evidence, and conclusions of investigations into allegations against clerics which do not go forward or are found to be unproven. As part of wrongfully accused clerics’ right to a good name, the Church is not supposed to preserve in perpetuity all the details of a false accusation made against them. “A brief summary of what occurred along with the text of the definitive sentence is to be retained,” Canon 489. However, diocesan bishops actually have the power to dispense from the legal requirement to destroy their old case files — and they always have.

When the church filed for Chapter 11 in May 2020, some 30 lawsuits alleging abuse had been filed against individual clergy members and the archdiocese as a whole. In the years that followed, the number of claims -- many dating back decades and alleging abuse against Catholic priests, nuns, brothers and deacons -- swelled to 450. After a new state law passed in 2021 and enacted in 2022 extended the window for claims to be filed, the number grew to nearly 500.

A deacon and a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said, “Just because there’s an investigation doesn’t mean these allegations are true or are proven. It takes a lot of courage to come forth with those allegations and then also not to prejudge, wait ‘til all the facts are out." He urges parishioners to show grace and comfort to all those involved.

It is good for us to listen to what the prophet Ezekiel says to the shepherds: “You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them” (34:3-4). It speaks of “fat” and “wool”, that which nourishes and warms; the risk that the Word places before us is therefore that of nourishing ourselves and our own interests, providing ourselves with a comfortable life.

Respect for bona fama is not only an essential element of any human community, but that it is particularly important in the life of the Church, especially for its clergy. It is incomprehensible for an ecclesial community professing fidelity to the incarnate Word of God to ignore or downplay a right so fundamental as the right to reputation. In this light, then, we can more easily see the fundamental hypocrisy at work if one professes caritas but permits calumnia.