Anticipating the release later this month of a national report on sexual abuse in the U.S. Catholic Church, Bishop George Niederauer reiterated Thursday that none of the 13 priests accused of sexual abuse in Utah since 1950 are currently serving as clergy in the country.
The leader of the Salt Lake Diocese, who first released that information nearly two years ago, said he knows of one living outside the country, but "there is no reason to believe" he is serving as a priest.
"The reason I say that," he said, "is if a priest comes from somewhere else and belongs to another diocese, almost the first thing done is to write the bishop of a previous diocese and ask about him."
Of the 18 "credible allegations" of sexual abuse by priests in Utah during the past 53 years, 15 offenses occurred from 1963 to 1984, and the other three have been reported in the past 20 years — two of them since 2000. The last known alleged incident, he said, occurred in 1994. Though all of the alleged incidents in Utah occurred before Bishop Niederauer arrived here in 1995, some of the reports were made after his arrival.
Just days before the start of a meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops on how the church should respond to growing abuse allegations nationwide, Bishop Niederauer announced at a press conference in June 2002 that he was removing three priests from their posts.
He declined to name the men at the request of the victims' families. At the time, no civil suits had been filed against the diocese, but that changed last February, when two brothers filed suit, seeking $80 million in damages for abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of former priest and Judge Memorial High School teacher James Rapp.
That suit, filed by Charles and Ralph Colosimo, was dismissed by a 3rd District Court judge in August because the statute of limitations had expired. Rapp is now serving two 20-year prison sentences in Oklahoma for molesting a boy there. The brothers allege he abused them repeatedly in the late 1960s and early 1970s and that officials in the diocese and at Judge knew about Rapp's tendency to molest young boys but covered it up.
The case is on appeal before the state Court of Appeals, and Bishop Niederauer said he couldn't comment on the status of the suit.
He did say the diocese has paid out $43,000 in pastoral outreach to victims during the past half century, $20,000 of that covered by insurance, and that it has incurred $15,000 in legal fees. Some payments for counseling are currently being made.
The bishop said the diocese has ongoing contact with many of the abuse victims.
"We don't want to be intrusive," he said, "but we want them to know we continue to care about them and how they are doing."
Niederauer said the diocese has had a strict reporting policy in place since 1990, which states that any such allegations must be immediately reported to the state Division of Child and Family Services, and that those policies were followed when the accusations were made.
He says the diocese has been "pro-active in implementing an environment that is safe for minors and that reaches out to anyone who has been a victim of abuse as a minor." Potential clergy undergo police background checks, including fingerprinting, and screening procedures have also been implemented for employees or volunteers who regularly deal with minors.
Presentations to clergy and educators at all levels have been made regarding protection of children, a mostly lay review board has been established to oversee the diocesan compliance with its own regulations, and materials are distributed outlining child abuse policies and mandatory reporting procedures, he said.
When asked how fellow bishops could have known about abuse and covered it up rather than reporting it, Bishop Niederauer shook his head and said, "I don't know. I can't look into the human heart. This is not letting them off the hook, but it happens" in other professions and venues, he said, citing recent investigative news reports of teachers and coaches who move about the country without any tracking system to warn new potential victims or the agencies they work for.
The cumulative effect of media coverage of abuse in the church "has sometimes created the impression that sexual abuse of minors is mainly a Catholic — or a Catholic priests' — problem. That is simply untrue."
Clergy and society have learned a great deal in the past 50 years about how to deal with abuse of all kinds, he said, acknowledging that both priests and therapists used to advise abused women to remain at home "for the sake of the children. Sometimes we sent people to their deaths with that advice. We were not being manipulative. We thought we were being helpful."
"I think the same thing is happening with this. We went from saying it was merely a sin" that the priest repented of during confession "to realizing it's a sickness" and those involved must never be allowed to work with children.
National statistics regarding sexual abuse in the Catholic Church were compiled in a study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and are to be released Feb. 27.
E-mail: carrie@desnews.com