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DEAR
Archbishop Sambi
by James M. Farrell
[James Farrell is a communications professor at
University of New Hampshire and a founding member
of New Hampshire Catholics for Moral Leadership.
The following is the text of a letter written to
the US Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi.]
I write to draw your attention to recent developments
concerning the
episcopal leadership of Bishop John B. McCormack
of the Diocese of
Manchester. Perhaps you have already been informed
about the conclusions of
the Attorney General of the State of New Hampshire
regarding a compliance
audit conducted of the diocese to determine whether
Bishop McCormack and the
administration of the diocese have fulfilled the
requirements of the
agreement between the diocese and the state. All
the same, I wish to
encourage you to investigate the matter, and to take
personal responsibility
for holding Bishop McCormack accountable, not only
to the state but, more
important, to Christ's faithful in the Diocese of
Manchester.
In the agreement of December 2002, the Diocese acknowledged
that under the
state's child endangerment statute "the state
has evidence likely to sustain
a conviction." In order to avoid criminal prosecution,
the Bishop of
Manchester agreed that the Diocese would fulfill
a number of conditions that
would "facilitate the protection of children," and "ensure
a system of
accountability, oversight, transparency, and training." (For
the full text of the agreement between the state
and diocese click
here. ) The agreement
also required the
public release of more than nine thousand pages of
legal documents and
diocesan personnel records that convincingly established
a pattern of cover
up, mendacity, and callousness on the part of diocesan
officials, including
especially Auxiliary Bishop Francis J. Christian(to
examine the documentary record from the diocese click
here).
The conditions of the above agreement also required
the Diocese of
Manchester "to submit to an annual audit to
be performed by the Office of
the Attorney General regarding compliance by the
Diocese of Manchester with
the terms of this Agreement and Diocesan policies." Although
the diocese
expended considerable resources in trying to prevent
execution of this
aspect of the agreement, and held up the audit in
the courts for nearly
three years, the audit went forward in 2005, and
the report of the auditors
was released by the Attorney General last week. (For
the full text of the audit report click
here). In
releasing the report, the Attorney General wrote
that "although three years
have passed since the Agreement was signed, the findings
of KPMG [the
auditing firm] establish that there are a number
of deficiencies in the
Diocese's compliance program," and that those
deficiencies "undermine some
of the core principles of the Agreement."
In commenting on the audit at a public news conference,
the Attorney General
offered her opinion that "the fundamental problem
seems to be a failure to
take responsibility at the top of the diocese." She
added that "it starts
at the bishop, but it's not just him alone." (See
Concord Monitor 30 March,
2006). The Attorney General's observation is telling.
First, she
acknowledges what virtually every responsible Catholic
has understood since
the first stories broke about the sex abuse crisis:
Bishop John McCormack
has consistently failed to protect children from
sexual abuse. He was
personally involved in the cover up of abuse in the
Boston Archdiocese; in
New Hampshire, he assigned priests he knew were sexually
deviant and
dangerous to children; and since the end of 2002
he has failed to take the
necessary administrative steps to correct the problems
that led to decades
of abuse, and more than $21 Million in settlements
in this diocese alone.
Second, the Attorney General points to others in
the diocesan administration
who also bear responsibility for the failure to meet
legal obligations, and
the ongoing embarrassment of incompetence in the
Manchester chancery. Of
particular note is the record of Rev. Edward J. Arsenault,
Delegate for
Ministerial Conduct, and his Associate Delegate,
and present Chancellor of
the Diocese, Diane Murphy Quinlan. In his public
remarks on the audit
report, Rev. Arsenault seemed entirely oblivious
to the damning conclusions
drawn by the Attorney General. Instead, he blamed
the professional auditors
for what he characterized as "factual inaccuracies
and misleading
statements." But, as one commentator wrote, "evasiveness
and debate points
will not address the real question of whether the
church is living up to the
settlement and to its obligation to the public to
make children safer."
Moreover, reporters who reviewed the audit came
to a conclusion quite
different than the self-serving interpretation of
Rev. Arsenault. One
article in the Foster's Daily Democrat ran with the
headline: "Audit says
Catholic Church in N.H. failed to ensure criminal
background checks."
Another headline in the Concord Monitor summarized
the matter this way: "
Diocese still falls short, audit says." The
Manchester Union Leader
agreed, explaining to readers that "The Roman
Catholic Diocese of Manchester
still has not fully implemented the child protection
policies it promised to
enact under the agreement it struck with the state
in 2002 to avoid criminal
prosecution for child endangerment." We do not
have to look far to find the
person principally responsible for this failure. "I
am the enforcer of the
policy," boasted Rev. Arsenault at his news
conference.
As the recent audit makes clear, Bishop McCormack,
Bishop Christian, Fr.
Arsenault, Ms. Quinlan and the others responsible
for child protection in
the diocese are either deliberately refusing their
moral responsibility to
protect children, or they remain stubbornly unwilling
to comply with a legal
agreement to which they are bound by the force of
law and honor, or they are
incapable of carrying out their duties and meeting
their obligations to the
people of the diocese and the state. It is evident,
in any case, that the
children of New Hampshire are not safe, and that
the present occupants of
the chancery care little about that fact. It is abundantly
clear to the
people of New Hampshire, and especially to the Catholic
people who continue
to suffer the embarrassment of this failed episcopacy,
that Bishop
McCormack, for the good of the church, must be removed
as Bishop of
Manchester.
These points were emphasized in several newspaper
editorials published in
the last few days. The Manchester Union Leader wrote
that "the diocese
never was as interested in protecting children, as
in appearing to protect
them." They concluded that "Bishop John
McCormack cannot be trusted to put
the interests of children above the interests of
the church. For the safety
of all children entrusted to the church's spiritual
and physical care,
Bishop McCormack must be removed." The Lawrence
Eagle-Tribune agreed, and also called for Bishop McCormack's resignation, writing
that "Yesterday's
release of the state's first audit of the Manchester
Catholic Diocese's
sexual-abuse prevention efforts raises once again
the question of why the
church allows John B. McCormack to continue as bishop.
His central role in
the clergy sex-abuse scandal taints the moral authority
of his position." The Concord Monitor also concluded that "the
leadership of the Diocese of
Manchester remains in denial about its history of
child sex abuse by priests
and its responsibility to ensure that more children
won't be scarred for
life." They determined that, "the church
has not taken the issue of child
abuse or its agreement with the state seriously," and
that "Bishop John
McCormack and [Rev.] Arsenault failed the church,
children and parishioners
before the agreement. They continue to do so. Nothing
will change as long
as they are in charge."
Now, Archbishop Sambi, what will you do
about this? Your predecessor, His
Excellency Archbishop Montalvo, was well informed
about the moral
inadequacies and administrative incompetence of Bishop
John McCormack and
his subordinates. For a period of more than two years
I and others
corresponded with him in an attempt to have the Holy
See hold Bishop
McCormack accountable for his failure to protect
children. A check of your
archives should produce a document sent to the Nunciature
in late October,
2003, in which I and other members of the Catholic
laity in the Diocese of
Manchester appealed to canon law for the just removal
of our bishop. It was
an appeal Archbishop Montalvo elected to ignore.
(For a copy
of that document, and the related correspondence,
click
here). Had Archbishop Montalvo
taken our appeal seriously, had the Holy See acted
by removing Bishop
McCormack when we warned three years ago about the
growing crisis in our
diocese, perhaps the most recent chapter of this
scandal could have been
avoided.
I urge you, Archbishop, to act without further delay,
and to take personal
responsibility for bringing these matters to the
immediate attention of His
Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. I do so with the words
of St. Peter Damian in
mind. Outraged at the scourge of clerical pederasty
infecting the church in
the eleventh century, he wrote to Pope Leo IX: "Listen,
you do-nothing
superiors of clerics and priests. Listen, and even
though you feel sure of
yourselves, tremble at the thought that you are partners
in the guilt of
others; those, I mean, who wink at the sins of their
subjects that need
correction and who by ill-considered silence allow
them license to sin.
Listen, I say, and be shrewd enough to understand
that all of you alike are
deserving of death, that is, not only those who do
such things, but also
they who approve those that practice them. (Peter
Damian: Letters 31-60, trans.
Owen J. Blum, O.F.M. [Washington, D.C.: Catholic
University of
America Press, 1990], 15).
Moreover, Archbishop, I humbly request an opportunity
to meet with you at
your convenience to review the record of Bishop McCormack,
and to discuss
the continuing concerns shared by many lay people,
and priests, in the
Diocese of Manchester about the need for new episcopal
leadership. Please
contact me to arrange a date and time when we can
meet.
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