Hoping to restore faith in the Catholic Church, Massachusetts-based Jesuit colleges are responding to the church sex abuse crisis that has rocked Boston with scholarly contention and research. Local universities Boston College and College of the Holy Cross recently launched educational programs promoting dialogue in an effort to ease tensions in the Catholic community and understand what went wrong.
While morale on both campuses remains high, Holy Cross feels a responsibility to address the crisis by sponsoring a series of discussions, according to Kathy McNamara, a spokeswoman for the college. The Holy Cross Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture will host several panel discussions throughout the semester, beginning later this month.
‘All of the discussions are open to the public and are expected to continue at least [through] this semester,’ she said. ‘It’s important to talk about things, to have a very open discussion about where we are and where the church is headed and look at the responsibility of Catholic colleges.’
Speakers include highly respected church authorities and presidents of influential community organizations such as The Voice of the Faithful, one of the first organizations to call for the removal of former Archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law.
‘They are the key dissenters, but a loyalist voice challenging the hierarchy,’ McNamara said.
The first discussion scheduled to be held by Holy Cross is entitled ‘The Role of Catholic Higher Education in Renewing the Moral Integrity of the Catholic Community in the United States,’ and McNamara and others hope it will ease apprehensions among Catholic students about the Church’s future.
‘The general reaction of all Catholics and others [has been] disgust, horror and real concern about the future of the church,’ McNamara said.
Facing imminent bankruptcy, the once commanding Catholic Church must now work to regain the trust of many Catholics disillusioned by the cries of sexual abuse victims allegedly betrayed by their clergy. BC hopes to use its resources to illuminate the reasons for past transgressions by members of the clergy.
‘Boston College has enacted a two-year program called Church in the 21st Century,’ said BC spokesman Jack Dunn. ‘The college has tried to examine the roots of the sexual abuse crisis. The Church in the 21st Century effort has brought thousands to the college to engage in discussions and do research.’
BC, Holy Cross and Boston University church spokesmen all contend that no present or former students or employees have been directly involved in the ensuing court battles alleging sexual abuse by priests against minors.
‘No BC students were affected,’ Dunn said. ‘We are fortunate.’
Church attendance on the BC and Holy Cross campuses has not been adversely affected by the recent scandals and admissions applications are steadily increasing, according to university spokesmen.
‘In our view church attendance is up; 75 percent of the students are Catholic, and their response has been appropriately positive,’ Dunn said. ‘Our admissions numbers are up 10 to 12 percent from last year. We remain one of the most competitive and select universities in the country.’
According to Dunn, the majority of priests accused of and convicted of sex abuse crimes were Archdiocese priests, not Jesuit priests, who make up BC’s faculty.
‘We are a Jesuit Catholic university so the priests are Jesuit priests,’ Dunn said. ‘BC is an independent school, it is not affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston. We don’t receive funding from them.’
Bill Gately, co-coordinator of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said Dunn’s distinction between the involvement of Archdiocese priests and Jesuit priests is correct but misleading.
‘The majority of priests in the Boston area happen to be Archdiocese priests,’ Gately said. ‘In a parish, the diocese priest would have more access to children and 47 percent of the priests have abused children under 12. Jesuits would be teaching at least college age people.’
Eleven former Boston College High School students were recently awarded $5.2 million after alleging they were molested by Jesuit priest Rev. James Talbot in the 1970s and ’80s when he was employed by BC High. BC refuses to claim affiliation, however.
‘The high school is separate from the college,’ Dunn said.
Gately said there may be more college age victims of either Jesuit or Archdiocese priests who still have not come forward with their claims.
‘It would take the average person 10 to 12 years before they can acknowledge the abuse,’ Gately said. ‘It takes years for someone to come to grips with their abuse.’
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