Review board seeks prompt, pastoral response

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
Posted December 12, 2002

The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People adopted by the U.S. bishops at their June meeting in Dallas requires that each diocese have mechanisms in place to respond promptly and in a pastoral way to credible allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy.

While the Diocese of Sioux City has had a review board in place to assist the bishop in assessing such allocations since 1992, in accordance with the Dallas charter, the board has been renewed and the majority of its members are lay persons not employed by the diocese as opposed to mainly clergy.

"They are a very sharp group of people who have been of considerable assistance to me," said Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo. "They have a very good background in areas from child abuse to psychiatry, the law and police enforcement. Thus, they are of considerable competency and excellence in counseling me on these issues."

Members of the review board stress that their main objective is to offer a proper pastoral response to all parties.

According to Gretchen Cooney, a C.P.A. from Holstein who is on the review board, the group has used the Dallas Charter as their guide when reviewing cases. The group has been meeting on a monthly basis since July and received initial training by Rev. Patricia Liberty, a national expert of clergy sexual abuse.

"The training focused on pastoral response to victims," Cooney noted. "That is the process of the church reaching out to victims to let them know that we are here for them, that we care and that we do not take it lightly."

Members of the review board recommend to the bishop what his response should be to the victim. They strive to offer assistance that meets the victims' needs whether it be pastoral, medical, psychiatric therapy and possibly other forms.

"Christ called us to pastoral care to one another," said Cooney, who serves in the BeFriender Ministry in her parish and went through Clinical Pastoral Education. "We are called to help one another when we are hurting - no matter who caused it."

Another member of the review board, Thomas Henrich, Ph.D., of Le Mars, said that through the pastoral response, they are looking at a holistic approach in helping people deal with these atrocities.

Henrich, a family therapist who practices at Midlands Clinic in Sioux City, said, "The whole situation has been difficult for everyone that is a member of the Catholic faith. The main issue that I have been hearing is one of trust and credibility. One of the main directives for this board is to be able to get that back."

The review board, Henrich stressed, would like people to come forward if they have had any problems.

"We want them to look upon this as a very safe place where they will be heard and respected," he said.

Cooney said the board strives to help the victims find the means to express themselves in order to work toward healing. Ultimately, they would like to offer whatever pastoral care they need in order to reconcile with the church because in many cases the victims have left the church.

"Our primary concern is to assist victims of clerical abuse, presuming that the allegations have been demonstrated as accurate," said Msgr. R. Mark Duchaine, who serves as moderator of the review board and has been a longtime bishop's delegate pertaining to clerical sexual abuse. "At the same time, our concern also is to provide priests with fairness and due process so that their rights are respected and their names and reputations are protected."

The review board is not simply rubber-stamping these cases, added Henrich. They carefully review each case to ensure fairness on all sides.

Bishop DiNardo agreed that the pastoral response was of utmost importance because "the whole purpose of the review board is to give advice on excellent pastoral assistance to victims and good, objective analysis of clergy who have been accused."

If the accusations have been substantiated, the review board advises the bishop on ways to deal with the offender.

Bishop DiNardo said the review board members have already been extremely helpful in giving good, objective insight and advice.

"The value of having a panel such as this is that we bring together men and women of outstanding talent in a variety of different fields who are deeply committed to the church and have a genuine desire to help," noted Msgr. Duchaine, who added that these individuals are making a great sacrifice of their time to advise the bishop and make recommendations in light of the new norms that have been established by the USCCB (United States Council of Catholic Bishops) which are now awaiting approval from the Vatican.

Msgr. Duchaine pointed out that one of the principle complaints against the Catholic Church, stemming from the recent scandals, was that the church hasn't availed itself an opportunity to receive input from the lay members of the diocesan community.

If the review board had been made up of only clergy, Cooney noted, many people would have thought it to be an "inside job." The Dallas Charter took care of that.

In addition to Cooney and Henrich, other members of the review board include Martha Burchard of Sioux City, director of the Mercy Child Advocacy Center; Mark Prosser, police chief and public safety director in Storm Lake; Father Robert Schimmer, pastor at St. Mary's in Storm Lake; Joseph Straub, senior district court judge from Algona; Dr. Clayton Toddy, a licensed clinical psychologist; Cynthia Wakeman of Sioux City, a human resources consultant; and Verna Welte, retired hospital administrator.

"Each and every one of them takes their role with great seriousness. They are always prepared for our meetings and they last customarily four hours. All of them contribute and participate fully," said Msgr. Duchaine. "They are a selfless group, truly committed to the good of the church, and we are blessed to have discovered them and are equally blessed to make use of them."

At the same time, members of the review board, have been heartened by the bishop's involvement and pastoral response.

"He is hurting, and I think he recognizes that our whole church is hurting," said Cooney. "He is more than willing to step forward and respond to the victims."

Henrich, too, has seen a huge commitment on the part of the bishop and found him to be very proactive - all in an effort to try to prevent these things from ever happening again.

This child abuse scandal has caused pain beyond the victims and their families - even the people in the pews are hurting, noted Cooney. She is saddened by the fact all priests have been affected and possibly looked upon differently as a result of the crisis.

Working on the review board, noted Henrich, has deepened his faith and given him a greater appreciation for priests.

"I have concerns about our pastors - that they are bearing the ramifications of what others have done - and that is an incredible burden to bear that is completely unjustified," he said.

The bishop pointed out that through a task force, the diocese is also reviewing and updating its abuse policy from 1991. This, too, was called for by the Dallas Charter. After the policy has been updated, the review board will be one of the consulting bodies to examine the policy.

"We have entered - in the past year or two - into very difficult times in our church. It is a period of purification and hopefully of renewal," said Bishop DiNardo. "Whenever we deal with cases of sexual abuse it is a tragedy - a tragedy for the victim, the church and we've discovered it is a tragedy for the perpetrator."

The church must, he stressed, continue efforts at education on the issue and be very clear in its formation of seminarians and ongoing formation of priests in the importance of this issue.

"One of the major results of this for the whole church is that we are called to faithfulness, and we must be faithful to our respective vocational calls," said the bishop. "The Holy Father has stated clearly the role of the holiness of the priest and that no one can remain a priest who harms the young."

(In the future, The Globe will publish an article relating to the ongoing work of the Sexual Abuse Task Force.)