Minutes: April 5, 2005
Minutes - NJ Voice of the Faithful Meeting
April 11, 2005
Pompton Lakes, NJ About 80 persons gathered at St. Mary's Parish in Pompton Lakes, NJ for Voice of the Faithful/NJ's meeting on Monday, April 11, 2005 at 7:30 PM. After an opening hymn, Theresa Padovano welcomed the group and called our attention to an April 11, 2005 New York Times article and data regarding Catholic parishes in the Metro area. One statistic - the number of active priests - is alarmingly down. Carole Rogers introduced our speaker, Rev. Jeff Mickler, S.S.P., PhD, former superior of the Society of St. Paul, who is very experienced in priest formation work and in media communications. Fr. Mickler's engaging talk, "The Making of a Naïve Priest: Healing and Hope" was marked by humor and substance. In the first part, he described his Midwest, blue-collar background and how it formed him. His father, a steel worker, taught him quite well about the basic facts of life but neglected to mention the subject of sexual abuse. Other than a general warning about taking candy from a stranger, he learned nothing about pedophilia at home. Later, in his college and seminary education, the subject of pedophilia got scant attention. Despite advanced degrees, he remained naïve on the subject. As a priest, he knew that some priests were immoral but it didn't occur to him that they might be sexual predators of children. He and other priests were busy trying to do good work and remained oblivious to the potential evil in their midst. He realizes now this is how child abusers flourished and got away with it. When the clerical sex abuse scandal broke beginning in the 1990s, he was appalled and angry. He believes the widespread media coverage of the scandal has been mostly valid and in the long run good for the Church. It has led to self-examination and the need for improvement. He explained the difference between diocesan priests and religious communities. The religious communities, independent of the Bishop's Charter, had to come up with their own plans to prevent child sexual abuse. The Conference of Major Superiors of Religious Communities affiliated their members with an organization called the Praesidium, which is composed of lay sociologists, psychologists, businesspersons and others who work with insurance companies and congregations to write policies to decrease the risk of child molestation. Safety nets in 25 areas have been put in place. For example, psychological tests, background checks, ongoing formation of personnel, standards of appropriate behavior with minors, assistance to victims, have been established. Members of congregations and employees must know and accept these. If a congregation has these policies in place, they lower the risk of minors being hurt and also protect themselves from false accusations. The Praesidium organization conducts inspections to see if policies have been enforced. Congregations may expel a convicted child abuser but society is still at risk. Some congregations, after jail sentences are served, keep their offenders in community with strict house arrest and close supervision. A Q&A period followed. Some of the concerns expressed were about what the women religious communities were doing to prevent abuse, will the Bishops stick to the Charter's provision, what kind of new Pope would Fr. Mickler like to see (he answered a penitential Pope who would reach out to those who were hurt). Fr. Lasch reported that the Charitable Immunity amendment (Bill A2512), which will hold charitable organizations responsible for the sexual abuse of children who are entrusted to their care, still hasn't come up before the Assembly. Contact your state legislators ASAP or it will not be voted on in this session. See www.fixthelaw.org for further information on this bill.
April 11, 2005
Pompton Lakes, NJ About 80 persons gathered at St. Mary's Parish in Pompton Lakes, NJ for Voice of the Faithful/NJ's meeting on Monday, April 11, 2005 at 7:30 PM. After an opening hymn, Theresa Padovano welcomed the group and called our attention to an April 11, 2005 New York Times article and data regarding Catholic parishes in the Metro area. One statistic - the number of active priests - is alarmingly down. Carole Rogers introduced our speaker, Rev. Jeff Mickler, S.S.P., PhD, former superior of the Society of St. Paul, who is very experienced in priest formation work and in media communications. Fr. Mickler's engaging talk, "The Making of a Naïve Priest: Healing and Hope" was marked by humor and substance. In the first part, he described his Midwest, blue-collar background and how it formed him. His father, a steel worker, taught him quite well about the basic facts of life but neglected to mention the subject of sexual abuse. Other than a general warning about taking candy from a stranger, he learned nothing about pedophilia at home. Later, in his college and seminary education, the subject of pedophilia got scant attention. Despite advanced degrees, he remained naïve on the subject. As a priest, he knew that some priests were immoral but it didn't occur to him that they might be sexual predators of children. He and other priests were busy trying to do good work and remained oblivious to the potential evil in their midst. He realizes now this is how child abusers flourished and got away with it. When the clerical sex abuse scandal broke beginning in the 1990s, he was appalled and angry. He believes the widespread media coverage of the scandal has been mostly valid and in the long run good for the Church. It has led to self-examination and the need for improvement. He explained the difference between diocesan priests and religious communities. The religious communities, independent of the Bishop's Charter, had to come up with their own plans to prevent child sexual abuse. The Conference of Major Superiors of Religious Communities affiliated their members with an organization called the Praesidium, which is composed of lay sociologists, psychologists, businesspersons and others who work with insurance companies and congregations to write policies to decrease the risk of child molestation. Safety nets in 25 areas have been put in place. For example, psychological tests, background checks, ongoing formation of personnel, standards of appropriate behavior with minors, assistance to victims, have been established. Members of congregations and employees must know and accept these. If a congregation has these policies in place, they lower the risk of minors being hurt and also protect themselves from false accusations. The Praesidium organization conducts inspections to see if policies have been enforced. Congregations may expel a convicted child abuser but society is still at risk. Some congregations, after jail sentences are served, keep their offenders in community with strict house arrest and close supervision. A Q&A period followed. Some of the concerns expressed were about what the women religious communities were doing to prevent abuse, will the Bishops stick to the Charter's provision, what kind of new Pope would Fr. Mickler like to see (he answered a penitential Pope who would reach out to those who were hurt). Fr. Lasch reported that the Charitable Immunity amendment (Bill A2512), which will hold charitable organizations responsible for the sexual abuse of children who are entrusted to their care, still hasn't come up before the Assembly. Contact your state legislators ASAP or it will not be voted on in this session. See www.fixthelaw.org for further information on this bill.
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