Nienstedt: Conference was 'painful'

* Bishops in the Minnesota and Dakotas province are going beyond the document, setting up a special review process where an outside agency will audit the dioceses compliance with the document and their internal procedures.

By KEVIN SWEENEY

Journal Editor

NEW ULM -- Back from the U.S. Catholic bishops summit in Dallas on the sex abuse scandal in the church, Bishop John Nienstedt of the New Ulm Diocese said bishops are determined to rebuild the trust with parishioners that was broken by abusive priests.

While the bishops didn't have the time to discuss everything that needs to be discussed on the topic, the Dallas summit was successful, said Nienstedt, in developing a document that focuses on the limited but important goal of protecting children and young people from abuse.

"There were a lot of people there who wanted to expand the agenda, but I think Archbishop (Harry) Flynn kept us on the point, and the charter and the norms that we did agree on responded well to that one focused issue."

Nienstedt said the conference was a "painful" one in many regards.

"It was painful for me in that we had to be there talking about the sins and crimes of a few number of priests. But as St. Paul says to the Romans in this Sunday's readings, the sins of one man, Adam, have had an impact on all of us."

"Where it's particularly painful is that these priests didn't practice what the Church teaches. Not only were they unfaithful in their own lives, but they were unfaithful to the Church and to Christ."

The Thursday morning presentation by victims of priestly sex abuse was also painful, said Nienstedt. "It was painful to know the effects of the sins and crimes that had been perpetuated on them and how they had long-lasting negative impact on the lives of these victims."

The bishops' document is a good framework for addressing the issue of protecting young people and "holding ourselves accountable." The bishops in the Minnesota and Dakotas province are going beyond the document, setting up a special review process where an outside agency will audit the dioceses compliance with the document and their internal procedures.

One issue the bishops will need to discuss further, said Nienstedt, is the accountability of those bishops who allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to continue working in parishes, reassigning them to different congregations where their abuses continued. That issue was separated out on the floor of the conference, and a special committee is being formed to study it.

It is an issue that is more complex that it first appears, said Nienstedt.

"As the psychologist who spoke to us Thursday morning indicated in her talk that really, the behavioral sciences have only begun to understand the question of pedophilia since 1985. Prior to that this was often seen as a moral lapse, something they maybe needed psychotherapy for. It really was not a consensus in 1985 that you would have someone who could not be cured of this disease."

"I think any bishop confronted with this would be horrified. I don't think it was a question of saying, 'I've got this guy and he's done wrong and I'm going to cover it up.' I think they felt that if they sent him to a place like Southdown or St. Luke's or one of these treatment centers for six months, that this person could reform, that if they followed the 12 steps, and working the steps, and they kept going to support groups, they could overcome their problem."

The bishops' response to the issues at the conference was very firm, said Nienstedt "We didn't use the words 'zero tolerance,' but our results were the same," he said.

The document calls for priests guilty of sexual abuse to be removed from ministry. While some critics would have the bishops go a step further and defrock the priests after their first offense, removing a priest from the priesthood is a matter by the requirements of church law. The U.S. bishops cannot create law for the whole church, but they do have the administrative power to control what the priests in their jurisdiction can do.

How long will it take to restore the trust of Catholic congregations in their church hierarchy? Nienstedt said it will take time. How much, he said, depends on what the bishops do and how the people will respond. He likened it to a marriage relationship where the trust has been broken by adultery. "It takes a long time to rebuild that trust."

Nienstedt said he took some comfort in the readings for this coming Sunday, from Paul's Letter to the Romans. "In Chapter Five Paul tells the Romans that where sin is present, grace abounds the more. I take hope in that the grace of Jesus is present, and that will be the victory."