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May 7, 2019 | The Valley Catholic
IN THE CHURCH
Sacramento, California, Diocese Releases List of Credibly Accused Priests
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CNS) -- Sac-
ramento Bishop Jaime Soto published
a list of 44 priests and two permanent
deacons from the diocese that have
been credibly accused of sexually
abusing 130 minors or young adults,
aged 25 and under.
The list, published April 30, is
based on a review of the personnel
records of nearly 1,500 bishops, priests
and permanent deacons conducted
by diocesan staff and an independent
consulting firm retained by the dio-
cese. It spans seven decades, from 1950
to the present.
“This list is heartbreaking. It is a
sickening and sobering account of the
history of sex abuse by clergy in our
diocese,” said Bishop Soto. “It is repul-
sive to see the evil acts that were per-
petrated upon innocent children and
young people entrusted to our care.”
The bishop said: “the accounting
had to be done. I need to own and atone
for what happened in the church’s
name. I have to be accountable to God
and his people. That can only be done
where there is transparency.”
The list was compiled by the dio-
cese with the assistance of Kinsale
Management Consulting headed by
Kathleen McChesney, formerly the
third ranking official at the FBI and the
founding administrator of the Office
of Child Protection at the U.S. Confer-
ence of Catholic Bishops. None of the
men listed are currently in ministry
with the diocese.
For the purposes of this list, “cred-
ible” represents a reasonable person’s
conclusion that, based on the informa-
tion at hand, the accusation is more
likely to be true than not.
The list is available on line at
www.scd.org/clergyabuse. It is di-
vided into five parts: priests from the
diocese; priests from religious orders;
priests from other dioceses; perma-
nent deacons; and priests who briefly
served or lived in the diocese, but
where the alleged incidents of abuse
occurred outside the diocese.
Each name on the list is linked to a
file showing the name of the priest or
deacon, his status or last known loca-
tion and other biographical informa-
“The accounting had to be
done. I need to own and
atone for what happened in
the church’s name. I have
to be accountable to God
and his people. That can
only be done where there is
transparency.”
tion. It lists his diocesan assignments
and provides information on the
nature of the alleged abuse, when it
took place and when it was reported
to the diocese.
Also on April 30, Georgia’s Attor-
ney General Chris Carr announced
the start of an investigation into past
sexual abuse claims within the Catho-
lic Church in Georgia.
The state’s two bishops, Atlanta
Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory and
Savannah Bishop Gregory J. Hart-
mayer, issued similar statements April
30 saying they offered “full support
and cooperation” for the third-party
file review and were doing so “in the
spirit of continued transparency and
concern over the sexual abuse crisis
in the Catholic Church in the United
States.”
The bishops agreed to a memoran-
dum of understanding concerning the
process and both expressed “genuine
concern for all who have been hurt
directly or indirectly by abuse of any
kind by anyone.”
Archbishop Gregory and Bishop
Hartmayer said they renewed their
“commitment to healing, transpar-
ency, and trust,” which Archbishop
Gregory added that he reiterated “even
as I prepare to take leave of this won-
derful archdiocese.”
They both called the review “an
important step in the long journey
forward.”
A report will be issued after the
review is completed.
Holy Boldness: Profile of Women Religious Rising At Vatican
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican can
move at a snail’s pace but looking back
over the past six years, the profile of
women, especially women religious, at
Vatican events has risen sharply.
The Roman Curia is not teeming
with women leaders and Pope Francis
has given no indication, for example,
that he will open the diaconate to
women, but women are taking center
stage more often and doing so with the
“parrhesia” or boldness Pope Francis
encourages.
And rather than having to beg for a
hearing, members of the International
Union of Superiors General -- lead-
ers of some 450,000 women religious
around the world -- are regularly
invited now to Vatican meetings at
every level.
Sister Carmen Sammut, UISG presi-
dent and superior of the Missionary
Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, told
reporters May 2 “with the Vatican di-
casteries, many things have changed”
over the past six years.
“We have, in fact, been knocking
on doors, and doors have been slowly
opening” at the Synod of Bishops and
at the meetings of Vatican congrega-
tions and councils, she said.
Sister Sally Hodgdon, UISG vice
president and superior of the Sisters
of St. Joseph of Chambery, said, “Since
Pope Francis, things have changed
radically.”
Vatican offices, she said, “are much
more open, more user-friendly.”
“It seems each year they listen a
little more and follow through more
on our ideas,” Sister Hodgdon said.
Vatican officials, she said, are real-
izing more and more that women have
some of the skills and experience they
need, and the sisters are realizing how
they can be “prophetic in different
ways.”
One example is the Way of the
Cross meditations written for Pope
Francis’ celebration at Rome’s Colos-
seum by Consolata Sister Eugenia
Bonetti, a pioneer in the ministry of
women religious to victims of human
trafficking, particularly those forced
into the sex trade.
Sister Bonetti’s meditations for
Good Friday were prayerful and pious,
but also explicitly condemned men
who go to prostitutes, governments
who have slammed their borders
closed against migrants and refugees,
and Catholics who prefer to look the
other way in both situations.
Another moment of holy feminine
Sister Carmen Sammut, center, superior of
the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa
and president of the International Union
of Superiors General, speaks at a news
conference at the Vatican May 2, 2019.
Pope Francis is scheduled to meet May 10
with the heads of more than 800 women’s
religious orders who are in Rome for plenary
meetings. Also pictured are Sister Donatella
Zoia, superior of the Sisters of the Precious
Blood, and Alessandro Gisotti, interim Vati-
can spokesman. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
boldness came during the February
summit on child protection at the
Vatican when Sister Veronica Openibo,
congregational leader of the Society of
the Holy Child Jesus, told Pope Francis
and the presidents of the world’s bish-
ops’ conferences that the hypocrisy
of Catholic leaders who claimed to be
guardians of morality yet remained si-
lent about clerical sexual abuse has left
the church’s credibility in shambles.
A small sign of the changing sta-
tus of women also can be seen in the
pope’s interaction with participants at
the UISG plenary meetings, which are
held every three years in Rome. Pope
Francis was scheduled to meet with
some 850 women leading religious
orders May 10.
The first plenary he addressed, in
2013, was held just two months after
his election. The superiors were ex-
cited by the new energy the new pope
brought and his renewed focus on the
serving the poor, which was and is
their forte.
But the women were the audience,
not the protagonists of the meeting,
with the pope giving a speech that
included a quip about the women
religious not being “spinsters” or “old
maids,” which brought laughter, but
didn’t sit well with everyone.
Three years later, in 2016, the format
of the UISG meeting with the pope
had changed. This time the sisters
asked challenging questions and the
pope responded.
“I like hearing your questions be-
cause they make me think,” the pope
told the superiors general at the May
2016 meeting. “I feel like a goalie, who
is standing there waiting for the ball
and not knowing where it’s going to
come from.”