The pope and the cover-up

Regarding "Upbeat pope to peddle basics" (NCR, April 18): The pope's visit to the United States brought to the surface the church's handling of the sex-abuse scandal. The New York Times editorialized, "There has been no diocesan resolve to lay bare the hierarchy's guilt.... The church faithful still await an accounting of the long years of cover-up."

In 1983, when I was chairman of NCR's board, a bishop phoned saying, "Your newspaper is doing a disservice to the church" by reporting on a sex-abuse scandal by a Louisiana priest. I asked if he thought the story was true. When he replied, "Probably yes," I asked what good was it to sweep the problem under a rug. The church covered up the scandal for the next 20 years with disastrous results.

Not until 2003 did publicity cause the bishops to form a lay-run National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People. The first report of the board in 2004 identified possible systemic problems that might have led to the sex scandal and cover-up: seminary life, celibacy, clericalism, diocesan bankruptcies, reliance upon attorneys, lack of episcopal accountability. In the 2005 report the issues were "still under review" and in 2006 the systemic problems were not mentioned.

Now that Pope Benedict has acknowledged that the sex abuse scandal was "poorly handled" and has met with some victims of sexual abuse, perhaps he will address the reasons for the cover-up and take actions against the bishops who participated.

JOHN B. CARON

Greenwich, Conn.

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