On Monday night, Bishop Thomas O'Brien, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Phoenix, claimed that his "conscience is clear" and that "As far as I'm concerned, I think I have done as much as I possibly can." Is anyone else confused?
If it were any other institution, it would have crumbled. Anyone else, and the church would have completely collapsed under it's own shield of scandal and hypocrisy. And by all means, the Catholic Church should have.
But it hasn't. And it would probably take massive brainwashings to overcome the heavily instilled indoctrination we call Catholicism. As some would argue, the Catholic Church as a whole cannot be blamed for the actions of a portion of the congregation. Surrounded by an extremely large and devout Catholic family, I get to hear about this stuff all of the time.
As for myself (having strayed from the Church for a multitude of other reasons, which it would take at least an entire night and a whole cheesecake to explain), I have decided that the old bumper sticker "Feeling guilty for no reason? You must be Catholic" is not only untrue but should be replaced by, "Not feeling guilty about spreading pedophilia? You must be the Bishop."
In June, in the wake of a "zero-tolerance policy" on sexual abuse dictating that priests or deacons who have sexually assaulted minors cannot return to the ministry, Bishop O'Brien pledged that he would be in full cooperation with the investigation being conducted by County Attorney Rick Romley.
After the first grand jury for the case was disbanded due to jurors dropping out, a second panel was seated and had to start the investigation over. Yet this new panel expires at the end of the month, which makes matters even more pressing.
According to newly released court records, Bishop O'Brien is guilty of stocking the diocese with pedophiles. Well, perhaps he's not stocking it with them, but knowingly allowing the transfer of a priest with sexual abuse allegations is still not such a good thing.
And if, God forbid, doing what one promises to do means anything, O'Brien will rectify this descrepancy, and perhaps his current reputation might be slightly mended, if that's even possible at this point. The reputation of Bishop O'Brien is something so soiled, even the Catholic community can't turn a blind eye, and rightfully so.
In 1997, Bishop O'Brien assigned Reverend John Picardi to a Scottsdale parish and then transferred him to the Flagstaff perish, San Francisco de Asis. Picardi has been accused of raping a male youth minister while on vacation in Florida, and has been accused of lifting the skirt of and fondling a fifth-grade girl while serving in New Jersey.
An investigation by the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services declared that his "actions placed the child at some unnecessary and undue risk of harm," and the state and church agreed that he should be banned from working with children.
After being banned from a ministry in one diocese, and in danger of expulsion from another, he asked to "begin his ministry again in Phoenix." And Bishop O'Brien let him.
Of course, the parishoners in Scottsdale and Flagstaff didn't know or have access to this information. How nice. Bishop O'Brien knowingly let him into the diocese, but didn't think churchgoers deserved to know about his past. That really makes me feel safe to bring my cousins to church.
It's too bad the zero-tolerance policy wasn't enacted a bit earlier, because O'Brien apparently needs a direct command in order to realize that there is something wrong with putting a pedophile in charge of a parrish.
Of course, even with the new policy, O'Brien looks to be making every effort to relive the good 'ol days when this stuff was overlooked. While the church gave up over 100,000 relevant documents to the courts earlier this year, they are also fighting to keep 3,500 documents out of the hands of the grand jury, even after Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Edward Ballinger determined that 2,286 of those documents should be handed over.
This is not too surprising, as practicing what one preaches seems to have fallen out of favor with the Catholic Church. After several months of scandal, they're still covering up stuff. But that's OK - right? - because Bishop O'Brien's conscience is clear.
Everything's all right because they've tried all they can to fix the situation. And if children still aren't safe going to church, just remember that there is nothing more Bishop O'Brien can do.
Rosie Cisneros is a journalism freshman. Reach her at rosie.cisneros@asu.edu.
