Centre Daily Times Article

Posted on Tue, May. 07, 2002

Local bishop outlines sexual-abuse policy

By Mike Joseph

mjoseph@centredaily.com

HOLLIDAYSBURG - Although some Roman Catholic dioceses screen out would-be priests because of gay sexual orientations, the eight-county Altoona-Johnstown Diocese does not, Bishop Joseph Adamec said Monday.

But Adamec said the diocese does take into account the prospect that a seminarian will keep his vow of celibacy after he is ordained.

Adamec also acknowledged that State College area Catholics are engaged in a debate about the diocese's screening policy, saying a psychologist who screens priesthood applicants faces criticism.

The diocese is currently reviewing about a half dozen allegations of sexual abuse of minors, all of which are alleged to have occurred more than 15 years ago, Adamec said.

The bishop's comments came at a news conference Monday, his first since U.S. cardinals met with Pope John Paul II last month and perhaps his last before U.S. bishops convene in Dallas next month to try to come to terms with the widespread crisis of sexual abuse cases.

At Monday's news conference, Adamec detailed the establishment of an "allegation review committee" made up of four professional, nonclergy Catholics from Blair and Cambria counties -- a social worker, a physician, a psychologist and a mother.

The committee will review any sexual abuse allegations that arise among the 112,000 Catholics and 104 active priests in the diocese.

The bishop said the committee is currently reviewing about a half dozen allegations of clergy sexual abuse that have come to light recently but that date back more than 15 years, before he became bishop.

"We have no new cases in terms of current incidents," Adamec said. "We do get new allegations in regard to things that may have occurred prior to that. ... The mass media in its reporting has probably empowered alleged victims who felt like they didn't want to come forward before and now feel free to do so, and that's certainly a good thing. And of course by now, they're adults."

He said some of the priests named in the allegations are out of the diocese, dead or no longer active, while others remain active.

"Those investigations are at various stages, and some could be considered as allegations, some could not," he said.

Adamec said he will refer allegations to the committee members, who are then free to obtain more information by, for example, interviewing the alleged victim and the accused priest.

"And then, when they come to a conclusion, they advise me, whether I need to proceed further along the lines of our diocesan policy. What that does then is that it takes out of my hands that initial decision: Is this credible or is this not."

He said allegations that are credible will be reported to the district attorney.

"If we receive an allegation from a victim, the understanding needs to be that that goes public -- reporting it to the DA," he said.

Adamec said that in the last several years, the diocese has used State College psychologist David Brown of Psychological Associates of Central Pennsylvania for about half of its psychological evaluations of prospective candidates for the priesthood.

Brown testified at the State College Area School District's hearings in support of the district's anti-discrimination, anti-harassment policy three years ago and has since debated sexual orientation issues on the CDT's opinion pages with the Rev. James M. Foster of St. John's Catholic Church in Bellefonte and Gary L. Morella, an associate with the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars in Lemont.

Adamec said Monday that some Centre County lay Catholics have criticized Brown for being too "liberal" in his comments. But the bishop added that the church catechism, while holding that it's wrong for gays to act out their sexual orientation, also says that they "must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity."

"Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided," Adamec said. "They're all God's children. And that's what he (Brown) claims he was talking about. I have no reason to think otherwise. There are other people, however, in the State College area, who absolutely don't want to hear that."

Adamec said that in the screening process for would-be priests "we've done as good of a job as one can," adding that there is no method that's going to be foolproof in such areas. He said the issue of importance is celibacy, regardless of sexual orientation.

"What needs to happen, according to me, is that we need to talk with that individual and determine whether that person is celibate or not. In other words, we either have heterosexual tendencies or homosexual tendencies. If the person is able to live a celibate life, in other words the orientation is one thing but acting it out and living it is another, then I think that we would need to take that into consideration."

When the bishops meet in Dallas next month, he said, that may be one of the issues that they seek a wide-ranging policy on.

"What we're going to do as a result of all this and what we're going to decide in Dallas in June, I do not know," he said.

"Goodbye, Good Men," a book written by Michael S. Rose and recently published by Regnery Publishing Co., carries the subtitle "How Liberals Brought Corruption into the Catholic Church."

The book argues, according to its promotional material, that "radical liberalism, like that found on many college campuses, has infiltrated the Catholic Church and tried to overthrow her traditional beliefs, standards, and disciplines -- especially church teachings on sexuality."

Brown, who is referred to in a half-page section of the 288-page book, said in an interview that "ultra" right-wing Catholics are trying to scapegoat homosexuals in a McCarthyite way and "they're furious" that he spoke in favor of the anti-harassment policy, using a theological argument, and that the policy was approved.

"They are purposely trying to use this book," Brown said. "They see an opportunity here."

"Nobody in the official church," Adamec's assistant, Sister Mary Parks, said Monday, "really thinks the book is worthwhile."

Mike Joseph can be reached at 235-3910.