c. 1997 Religion News Service

(Andrew M. Greeley is a Roman Catholic priest, best-selling novelist and a sociologist at the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center. Check out his home page at http://www.agreeley.com, or contact him via e-mail at agreel(at)aol.com.)

UNDATED _ The pedophile priest problem has disappeared only in the minds of the Roman Catholic clergy.

The recent decision of a jury in Dallas ordering the Catholic diocese there to pay $119.6 million in damages for covering up for an ex-priest accused of sexually molesting altar boys shows how wrong was the confidence of priests that there is no longer a problem as reported in a Los Angeles Times study of priests.

Yet the Dallas case suggests that priests still don’t get it.

The former vicar general of the diocese exploded after the court’s ruling:”No one ever says anything about what the role of the parents was in all this. They more properly should have known because they’re close to the kids. … Parents have prime responsibility to look after their kids … it doesn’t appear that they were very concerned about their kids.” The 11 victims of Father Rudy Kos, one of whom later committed suicide, and their parents are to blame?

Then the current vicar general refused to repudiate or condemn his predecessor’s comment saying,”We think the issues are far more complex than trying to assess blame.” I submit that the issues are not more complicated _ neither in Dallas nor anywhere else.

The blame is shared three ways: by the bishops and diocesan officials who reassign priests with known pedophile problems; by the hardball”victims-are-the-enemy”tactics of diocesan lawyers; and especially by priests who know about sex abusers and keep their mouths shut. (Apparently there were four other priests in the rectory where Father Kos abused his victims. They didn’t know what was going on?)

I am not aware of a single sex-abuse case in which other priests did not know, or strongly suspect, that something was wrong. But they usually choose to remain silent. Moreover, pedophile priests are still at large (often in informal networks or”rings”) and are well known to many priests who nonetheless stubbornly refuse to report them.

There was a film on TV the other night about a woman cop who was raped by a fellow cop. Because the victim had broken the”blue code”_ the unwritten law among police that you never denounce one of your own _ she lost her job, her parents were harassed, and she was threatened with death.

To me, there seems also to be a”Roman collar code”: you never report a fellow priest, never.

Priests and cops are not the only professions with a code of silence. Doctors, lawyers and academics seem to have one, too. (Hence the University of Michigan had to pay $1.6 million recently because it refused to believe that a senior academic stole the work of a junior colleague.) But given the nature of the priesthood, the level of trust the flock gives the shepherd, the”Roman collar code”is especially evil.

There are other pedophile priests still out there, and some of their fellow priests know who they are. But they choose to remain silent, protecting the priesthood rather than potential victims.

I wouldn’t want to be in their place when they stand before God’s judgment seat. Excuses _ such as”I didn’t want any harm to come to the church or the priesthood”or”I had to stand by fellow priests”_ won’t do any good then.

Maybe the priests in Dallas who knew about Father Kos’ activities can explain their silence to the parishioners as they try to raise the money to pay off the families of his victims.

To be fair, some priests have indeed come forward. But a few of them have paid a heavy price for doing so: Some have been sent away for psychiatric treatment and ostracized by their fellow priests.

Meanwhile, priest councils around the country and the National Federation of Priest Councils deny the problem.

No problem? Tell that to the Catholics of Dallas who must pay for the non-existent crisis. Tell it also to the priests of Dallas who knew about Father Kos and now must explain to their parishioners why they did nothing to stop him.

MJP END GREELEY