Atheists: Pedophile Scandal Grounds For RICO Probes?

oman Catholic officials hinted of a new policy today that might dismiss priests who engaged in sexual molestation of children, but gave no specifics about their plan.

   At an afternoon press conference, American prelates said that they would release two documents, including a letter to priests and a final report of their meetings with Pope John Paul II and other officials from the Holy See. But Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said that clerics remained divided over whether a new and presumably tougher policy should be retroactive, being applied to cases that occurred in the past or are now just coming to light.

   "I've got to pray about that and listen to the lay people," the Cardinal told reporters.

   It remains unclear, at best, how far church leaders will go in agreeing to report instances of alleged sexual abuse to civil authorities for investigation and possible prosecution. McCarrick said that "today," his personal approach would be to dismiss abusive priests and possibly alert authorities, but first send the cleric to a "therapeutic center to get evaluation."

   There, people such as "doctors, lawyers, psychologists, men from the law enforcement agency, mothers and fathers" would presumably decide on how the case should be handled.

   Equally unclear are other possible elements in the new Vatican policy. Chicago Cardinal Francis George told CNN that there would be further consultation among prelates in June, and admitted that "no red lines" had been established concerning how to handle the growing scandal within clerical ranks. Cardinal McCarrick also seemed to defer any definite new guidelines until the June meeting when American Catholic leaders will gather in Dallas, Texas.

   Since arriving in Rome two days ago, the Cardinals have attracted considerable media coverage from American journalists. Despite the spotlight, though, and a statement from Pope John Paul, there has been little in the way of specific policies that the church would implement. The pontiff made a boilerplate condemnation of sex abuse as "an appalling sin" and crime against society, and some observers have hinted that he was indirectly encouraging Cardinals, Bishops and other ecclesiastical leaders to report abuse case.

   "His (Pope John Paul) phrasing seemed to say U.S. Bishops should refer abuse accusations against priests to secular authorities," noted an Associated Press story. "In the past, some bishops have not, causing an uproar."

   It was also not clear whether anything close to a "zero-tolerance" position toward pedophile clerics was going to become a new church policy. Cardinal George said that he was "not sure" and according to AP "raised the possibility of a priest who was rehabilitated, repentant and given a ministry 'far away from children.' "

   New York Cardinal Edward Egan "said the issue can be looked at from two sides," noted AP.

   "How do we handle it when someone comes in and says that someone has done something wrong?" Egan asked. "Can you immediately walk away from that person? I don't think you can vilify either position. I think you can make a case for either position."

   Despite the vague language and lack of specific policies, though, American prelates tried desperately to put a positive spin on their Rome meeting. In an open letter to the U.S. flock, Bishop Wilton Gregory of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops admitted that church officials believed "we had made considerable progress" in dealing with the pedophile problem, but that recent scandals "had wiped it out."

   The pontiff seemed to reflect that down-beat mood. In his Tuesday address in St. Peter's Square, he grumbled, "Many are offended at the way in which the church's leaders are perceived to have acted."

   Detroit Cardinal Adam Maidamade what may prove to be the most controversial and unrepentant statement of the ecclesiastical summit, though. Without citing specifics, Maida told reporters that the scandal reverberating throughout the church was "not truly a pedophile-type problem, but a homosexual-type problem." He added that bishops needed to "cope with and address" the homosexual element in Roman Catholic seminaries. Cardinal Gregory agreed saying "it is an ongoing struggle to make sure that the Catholic priesthood is not dominated by homosexual men."

   There are other developments in the widening pedophile scandal.

   ¶       The problem of child molestation in clerical ranks is not confined to the United States. Rev. Thomas Reese of the Jesuit magazine America told reporters over the weekend, "This is not just a problem in the American church, but American society is acting much more rapidly and openly in dealing with this than other societies around the world."

   "That's what makes it so visible."

   Canada is one example of where the pedophile scandal has drawn media and judicial scrutiny. Indians there have filed over 2,500 compensations claims of physical and sexual abuses at a string of boarding schools operated by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Last week, the religious order filed for bankruptcy protection.

   Reports of cleric abuse in Australia began in the late 1980s in Australia, with nearly 50 priests and brothers sentenced for sexual offenses in the last nine years. Some of the most horrific took place in Christian Brothers orphanages. A brother who testified at government inquiries said that he received pressure directly from the Vatican to stop releasing material about clerical molestation and impropriety.

   In Ireland, site of deep religious divisions, the church is confronting what The Irish Times newspaper describes as "the greatest institutional crisis in its modern history." In a negotiated settlement announced last January, about 3,000 victims of churches schools, reformatories and orphanages will share in a $110 million compensation package. Bishops hastily established a child protection office. In neighboring England, 21 priests were convicted of sexual molestation from 1995 to 1999.

   ¶       Will there be a wave of RICO civil suits, and even criminal prosecutions over the church scandals? Last week, a Missouri man filed a racketeering lawsuit charging that former Palm Beach, Fla. Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell sexually abused him decades ago, and that church authorities maintained secret records on pedophile priests and paid hush-money to victims when they came forward.

   The man, now 49 and unidentified in the suit, says that the abuse began in 1968 when he was a student at the St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal MO. O'Connell at the time served as rector. Documents reflect that in 1994, Bishop O'Connell began making a series of $400 monthly payments.

   Last month, O'Connell stepped down after admitted that he had an inappropriate relationship with a former student.

   ¶       Government authorities may face an obstacle in investigating and prosecuting priestly abusers, in part because of the "dual status" enjoyed the Roman Catholic Church. The church is both an ecclesiastical institution, and a political state with "sovereign immunity." The fact that the Cardinals were summoned to Rome underscores not only the international character of the church, but its role as a political institution.

   "The Roman Catholic Church engaged in a pattern of cover-up which protected pedophile clerics and put children at risk," said American Atheists President Ellen Johnson in a statement delivered last night to news media. "It needs to be investigated thoroughly for possible prosecution under RICO (Racketeering) statutes."

   "Any other multinational company or group which engaged in this behavior would be under federal scrutiny right now."

   The problem, however, is that the church can claim a degree of insulation and immunity from legal prosecution. Church officials are already resisting efforts in California to produce financial records linked to the status of gold and other valuables stolen from Jews, Serbs and other holocaust victims which possibly ended up in the Vatican bank.

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