Not to say that The Episcopal Church is without fault, but cases of sex abuse and mismanagement by bishops are in the news again: the two cases receiving attention today are in the Church of England and in the Catholic Church of Ireland.
The Vatican published on-line some internal files about a priest accused of molesting youngsters in Ireland and the U.S. in advance of a deadline set by an Oregon federal district court judge. The plaintiff's lawyers demanded the documents in a lawsuit in which a victim of sexual abuse is attempting to hold the Holy See vicariously liable for the action of a now deceased priest. The move may be designed to avoid turning over more documents in the discovery phase of the trial.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of former attendees of St. John's Military School in Salina, Kansas, has apparently misnamed the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas as a co-defendant.
The suit, brought by parents of former students, alleges mistreatment at St. John's in the form of negligent supervision, intentional failure to supervise, intentional infliction of emotional distress or outrage, breach of fiduciary duty, and conspiracy to assault and batter.
This may be a matter that is of narrow concern, but I would like to seek the wisdom of our readers on this nonetheless. I’ve had professional reasons in recent years to make a bit of informal study of how various churches, dioceses and parishes have handled the difficult task of informing members about instances of clerical sexual abuse. There don’t seem to be any agreed upon best practices, and it seems that there should be.
I am aware of instances in which church leaders have made a full disclosure of the nature and scope of the abuse (withholding certain details so as not to become too clinical, but conveying just how serious was the nature of the abuse), apologized to the community for this breech of trust, asked other victims to come forward, and promised to keep the community apprised of future developments.
I am also aware of church leaders who have not informed their church communities of the abuse and simply let them learn about it through the mainstream media.
And, finally, I am aware of church leaders who do their damnedest to suppress as much information as possible.
Assuming that a parish, a diocese, or the folks at church center are in possession of corroborated reports of sexual abuse by a member of the clergy or a bishop, how fully and through what channels should they release this information?
I would especially like to hear from members of Episcopal Communicators on this issue, and we can be more liberal than we usually are in granting our commentors' anonymity if that makes it easier for them to tell their stories.
Peter Stanford of The Independent profiles the Rev. Bernard Lynch, whose career is the Roman Catholic Church as a whistleblower, advocate for LGBT people, and, as it turns out, married gay man, would be dismissed as implausible were it proposed as fiction.
Interesting news out of Germany-- the Catholic Archbishop of Berlin has reportedly come out in favor of treating those in long-term homosexual relationships equal to those in heterosexual relationships.
