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THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY: What the Hell is Going On? 

 

Dorothy Philbin | CNBNewsnet

 

GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (April 24, 2022)--Que diable se passe-t'il-ici? the French ask about America.  I ask myself that question almost every day.  What the hell is going on?  This week we can ask that question about the Dioceses of Camden.  The old news is that the dioceses declared bankruptcy in October, 2020.  That case is still in the courts.  Images-3

 
This week's news is that the dioceses wants to put $87.5 million into a trust fund for the survivors of sexual abuse.  This has to be approved by the bankruptcy court which is, as all bankruptcies, in a federal court.  That is a lot of money but the judge could say more or less money should be allocated.  He has the final say.  
 
This $87.5 million is the second highest proposed settlement by a dioceses.  It surpasses the settlement of the Dioceses of Boston at $85 million.  What is the highest?  The location shouldn't surprise you, the Dioceses of Los Angeles, but the amount should, $600 million!  It might amaze some people that this problem (or sin as I was taught in Catholic school) is not just nation-wide, California to New York.  However, the sin goes much farther than that.  The U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Court only tells us what has happened in America, not the other five countries who admit to the same problem. 
 
Screen Shot 2022-04-23 at 23.07.56
Map of The Camden Diocese, NJ, Base map used: File:New Jersey Locator Map with US.PNG, rest of the work was done by User:AlexiusHoratius

 
 
America, unbeknown to many people goes beyond the 50 states, we also have six territories whose residents are American citizens.  So, sexual abuse of children has affected children from the territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean to the territory of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea.  In between there are bankruptcies in Buffalo, Harrisburg, Long Island, New Orleans, New York City, Norwich, Rochester, Rockville Center, Santa Fe, Syracuse, and Winona in addition to those mentioned above.  Keep in mind that these are only those dioceses in bankruptcy.  There could be others which did not need to file bankruptcy.
 
That only accounts for 16 out of more than 100 dioceses in the country.  Is that all?  Not by a long shot.  There are many dioceses which have come out of bankruptcy.  They include Davenport, Duluth, Fairbanks, Gallup, Billings, Helena, Milwaukee, New Ulm, Portland, San Diego (dismissed,) Minneapolis, Spokane, Stockton, Tuscon, Wilmington.*   That's a long list, at least 31 dioceses, but we're not done yet.  There are three other bankruptcies of note:  Christian Brothers Institute of New York, Crosier Fathers and Brothers of Providence and the Society of Jesus in Oregon.** 
 
So, what now?  Does the church just close, turn out the lights and say "good bye?"  Almost.  But then came COVID to save the day.  Churches, and many other organizations, do not pay taxes whether they are local property taxes, sales, state or federal taxes so they can't receive any "give aways" the government may offer.  That only seems fair.  But during COVID all churches, not just Catholic, were allowed to file for forgivable small business loans plus the Paycheck Protection Plan.  How can anyone imagine most churches are "small businesses?"  The answer was for each parish to file individually as a small business.  Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, tried this decades ago and the government didn't buy it.
 
So, how much money are we talking about?  The answer is - we don't know for sure.  Has the Catholic church ever opened its books to an outside audit?  Not in my 70 year-old memory.  From the government we know the dollar amount is at least $1.4 billion and to quote boston.com "The church's haul may have reached - or even exceeded $3.5 billion."***
 
1)   Why did this happen?  The answer to that question is beyond my pay grade.
2)   How long has it been happening?  The best I can say is probably a lot longer than we would expect.
3)   What do we do about it?  Again, above my pay grade but most professional will say that at this time there is no cure or even effective treatment.
4)   How did this go on so long without anyone saying anything?  That one I know.  In the late 1950s into the 1960s or even later parents would never  believe their kids and would often punish them (hitting was allowed back then.)  Then they would send you to confession for your lie!
 
Bishop Dennis Sullivan of Camden offered his apologies to the victims, offered his prayers for them and promised his commitment to ensure that this will never happen again.  That's a big promise considering that the lives of these victims have been changed forever.  They will never be the people they were born to be.
 
The following is from wikipedia 
 

Pope Pius XI erected the Diocese of Camden on December 9, 1937, taking its present territory from the Diocese of Trenton and designating the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Camden as its cathedral. The new diocese had 75 diocesan priests and 11 priests of religious communities to serve approximately 100,000 Catholics in 49 parishes and 31 missions, plus thirty elementary and five secondary schools.[2]

Following completion of its construction in 1952, St. Joseph Church in Camden was declared to be a pro-cathedral because the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was too small for cathedral functions.

On April 2, 2008, Bishop Joseph Anthony Galante announced the closing of roughly half of the parishes in the diocese. This followed a previous announcement of the closing of various Catholic schools. The Diocese of Camden was led by Bishop Galante until his resignation was accepted on Jan. 8, 2013.

Sexual abuse scandal

On February 13, 2019, all of the Catholic Dioceses based in New Jersey released the names of clergy who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing children since 1940.[3] Of the 188 listed, 57 were based in the Diocese of Camden.[3] Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Newark and metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical province that encompasses Diocese of Camden, also acknowledged that the alleged acts of abuse committed by the clergy listed were reported to law enforcement agencies.[3] On February 9, 2020, it was reported that all five Catholic dioceses across the state of New Jersey, which includes the Diocese of Camden, had paid over $11 million to compensate 105 claims of sexual abuse committed by Catholic clergy.[4] Of these 105 claims, 98 were compensated through settlements.[4] The payments also do not involve 459 other sexual abuse cases in these dioceses which are still not resolved.[4] On July 31, 2020, the Diocese of Camden suspended future payments to alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse, citing the financial impact stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]

On August 20, 2020, four new lawsuits were filed against the Diocese of Camden involving three priests who were alleged to have committed sexual abuse while teaching at high schools run by the Diocese.[6] One accused priest, Rev. Kenneth L. Johnston, had served as principal of Gloucester Catholic and St. James high schools.[6] Two of the four new lawsuits were also filed against Rev. Eldridge Evans, a former teacher at St. James High School.[6] Another lawsuit alleged sexual abuse by the Rev. Gerald P. Clements, who taught at Camden Catholic High School.[6] All three priests are dead.[6] On December 1, 2020, it was revealed that the Diocese of Camden was among more than 230 sex abuse lawsuits filed within a period of one year against New Jersey Catholic Dioceses.[7]

In April 2022, the diocese agreed to pay $87.5 million to settle the abuse claims, one of the largest such settlements involving the Catholic Church in the United States.[8]

 

*      Professor Marie T. Reilly at Penn State Law for The Catholic Project
**     boston.com/news  7/10/2020
 

 

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