The oft-maligned
New York Times was loaded with great stories today, but one stood out to me because it once again reinforced why the Foley matter is more than simply a political asset/liability depending on one's party.
The story focuses on a new documentary film, "Deliver Us from Evil," about the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, with particular emphasis on the abuse by one priest in the Stockton, California diocese. In the film the now former priest, Oliver O'Grady, details how he spent 20 years abusing boys and girls throughout central California while being shifted from parish to parish by Church authorities, including the man who is now one of the most powerful men in the U.S. Catholic Church, Cardinal Roger Mahony, the current leader of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
The film is stirring new action to finally hold Mahony accountable for his actions:
(Read on...)
"The film does certainly charge the atmosphere here in Los Angeles," said William Hodgman, the top deputy of the target crimes division of the Los Angeles District Attorney's office, who coordinated prosecutions of priests in Los Angeles.
The film also "will fuel ongoing consideration as to whether Cardinal Mahony and others engaged in criminal activity," Mr. Hodgman added.
As I noted in my diary on my experience with the priest abuse scandal, finding justice matters. When the Cardinal I was dealing with on the issue (not Mahony) sent me a letter mentioning the importance of forgiveness (while the priest in question continued to actively serve without consequence, legal or otherwise, despite having multiple cases in his file), I wrote back:
Forgiveness, if it is to come, follows justice. Without justice first, there can be no forgiveness.
Justice can mean different things to different people. In my case, the Cardinal and the Church essentially refused to provide the justice I sought... At a minimum, the priest in question had, through his actions, certainly ceded any authority to act as Christ's representative on Earth through the administering of the sacraments, hadn't he?
But I was unable to convince the Cardinal of even that. Ultimately, I went to the press with my story and the priest "resigned" from the priesthood.
But what of the Church and the leaders who permitted these crimes to continue, unabated, on their watch?
The O'Grady case outlines how it worked:
In a telephone interview on Thursday from Ireland, Mr. O'Grady maintained that he informed Cardinal Mahony of his "situation" while working as a priest in Stockton. "I told him I would go to counseling and he said fine," Mr. O'Grady said. "We thought I had resolved it."
...
After the incident in Stockton, but long before his conviction, Mr. O'Grady was moved to another parish -- his fourth.
Sound familiar? It should. How did Rep. John Shimkus who had oversight of the congresional page program claim he handled the Foley situation once he heard of the first e-mails?
Shimkus has said he learned about the e-mail exchange in late 2005 and took immediate action to investigate.
He said Foley told him it was an innocent exchange. Shimkus said he warned Foley not to have any more contact with the teenager and to respect other pages.
And from Rep. Dennis Hastert's letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales:
Acting on this same communication, the Chairman of the House Page Board and the then Clerk of the House confronted Mr. Foley, demanded he cease all contact with the former page as his parents had requested, and believed they had privately resolved the situation as the parents had requested.
That's telling him.
But what about justice? I noted in my earlier diary:
The anger, the fury, the rage does NOT go away until justice is done. And that is justice NOT ONLY for the perpetrator, but for those who aided and abetted the perpetrator by protecting the scumbag.
I have no empathy for Foley. No pity. And I have nothing but contempt for those who protected him. Because I know what it is like to be a victim of one of these criminals. I know the anger, the fury, the seething, burning rage. I know what it's like to be screaming as loud as one can -- without anyone hearing.
...
Even if these guys (the victims) seem fine with this stuff now, I know they will be angry as they get older, particularly if Foley skates and his enablers remain untouched.
And as the article in the Times notes:
The film also features interviews with several of his victims and their parents, whose festering anguish and heartache seem to have healed little over the years.
Ann Jyono, one of Mr. O'Grady's victims and a central character in the film, said in a telephone interview Thursday that she was a practicing Catholic, and that while she longed to see Cardinal Mahony prosecuted, she would settle for a conversation with him about her years of abuse at Mr. O'Grady's hands.
"I hope people appreciate that it is not easy to be naked in front of everybody with your shame," Ms. Jyono said. "In this film, you find out that Mahony had a hand in everything that happened to me."
That's why, well beyond the political ramifications, the Foley cover-up matters. Because justice needs to be served for the victims.