The List
The diocese posted a list this week. The title of the post was “List of Clergy… Credibly Accused of Sexual Abuse of Minors (Since 1948).” It was subsequently printed in the diocesan newspaper. What followed was thirty-one names, the year the individual was ordained, when the alleged abuse was reported, and actions taken by the diocese. The list was posted as a partial response to the recent revelation that a high-ranking Church prelate connected to the diocese had engaged in serial sexual misconduct – this after a spring and summer of high-profile headlines detailing abuses in other dioceses.
A portion of the list
To Whom Shall We Go?
After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said to the twelve, “Will you also go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” -John 6: 66-68
We are all sinners, and can only be saved by grace through the sacrificial death and Resurrection of Jesus – true God and true man. If a particular sin can be judged as worse than another, these abuses probably can. They reflect not just on the individual but on the Church itself. I love the Catholic Church. The public sins of some in Church leadership are a devastating scandal that has undoubtedly caused some to turn their back on the Church, and indeed perhaps all spiritual truth. These sins will have eternal (literally damnable) consequences. This is heartbreaking.
Great Progress
The heading of the list says: “No Incidents by Archdiocesan Priests in Almost 20 Years.” That of course is great news, and a testament to how successfully the Church responded to the scandal of 2002. As catechists my wife and I underwent fingerprinting, criminal background checks, and training on how to interact with the young people in our charge. For example, two adults are to be present in all classroom situations, we do not accompany a child to the bathroom (or anywhere else) alone, and we limit how we physically touch and engage the children. Our tradition has become a public hug from both my wife and me only at our end-of-year certificate presentation, and occasionally when we see them at Mass in full view of everyone else. That is a little sad, but a necessary reality in our current culture. In addition to our training, we are required to provide “Safe Touch” training each year to our students so they can better recognize safe and unsafe friends, and have a basis to react properly to any potential uncomfortable or inappropriate situations.
Political Response?
All that said, in my opinion the list the diocese just posted seems somewhat calculated and political. The “No Incidents” claim (and the list itself) is misleading. The list includes only accusations alleged to have been perpetrated upon minors, a terrible evil without question. Yet the recent local headlines have nothing to do with those accusations. The scandal has primarily involved allegations that a prelate in a position of authority took sexual advantage of seminarians under his supervision, and by extension the purported knowledge and existence of a homosexual subculture in the Vatican. These are the questions before the Church now, not the abuse of minors – to which the diocese has certainly responded admirably. So why release this list now? In my opinion it is to deflect attention from the most recent scandal.
One Name
One name stood out starkly in the list – Thomas W. Lyons, our pastor when we were children. It is the most concise entry out of all the thirty-one. This is ironic, and maybe somewhat deliberate. Though it is not mentioned, Thomas Lyons was later ordained a Bishop, to my knowledge the only prelate on the list. The recent scandal has been mostly about what the Cardinals and Bishops knew, and when they knew it. About five years ago I thought about writing a tribute to my friend Bishop Lyons and came upon an online post by a man who claimed that at age ten he was sexually abused by then-Father Lyons. It was a long and detailed account of the incident that he said occurred in 1965. Though the accusation was made in 2002 – fourteen years after Bishop Lyons’ death and nearly forty after the alleged incident – there were enough credible details that I struggled with whether it might actually be true. So ended my intended tribute. When the list was released this week, my sister posted “Feeling Devastated” on her social media feed, and it all came flooding back.
Priest, Pastor, Friend
I knew Bishop Lyons well. I loved and admired him greatly. He was a gregarious and energetic man who often joined the children during recess and basketball practice. We were amazed by the trick shots he could perform, including hook shots from half-court and beyond that went in with astonishing regularity. I and a couple of other boys went to the beach with him once. Unthinkable now, but we had a great (and innocent) time. Our townhome shared an alley with the church rectory and late one evening after a scary discussion at our neighbor’s home I ran out their back door in tears. Bishop Lyons was driving down the alley, saw my distress, and spent the next 45 minutes in the rectory parlor calming and catechizing me. During our lean years he helped secure generous scholarships to local Catholic high schools. His car was rear-ended at a red light by a fire truck in the early 1980s. A few of us teens drove to the hospital to see him, and later, to visit with him at subsequent assignments. He became a pen-pal, and he eventually died as a result of his injuries while I was deployed overseas. I must have said I was praying for him in one of my last letters, because his sister Helen wrote me back and said that not only could I pray for him, I could now pray with him. He was nothing but kind and caring to me. The man I knew simply did not match the description I read.
Sin has consequences, to ourselves and to those against whom we sin. Sexual abusers must be reported, investigated, and subjected to punishment by both Church and criminal authorities. Sins against minors should be the most aggressively pursued. I do not know if this accusation against my friend is true. I pray it is not true. I feel it cannot be true, and it does not seem right that he has been unable to defend himself against the charge. In the end, I can only pray that God have mercy on Thomas Lyons, on his accuser/victim, and on us all.
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