VOTF to Skylstad & George: move aside
The Chicago Tribune reports that Voice of the Faithful has urged Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane and Cardinal Francis George of Chicago to step down temporarily from their positions as president and vice president, respectively, of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Earlier this week, it was reported that a woman accused Skylstad of abusing her more than forty years ago, when she was under eighteen and he was in his late twenties (he’s seventy-two now). George has been strongly criticized for the last several weeks, since it was revealed that the archdiocese failed to act fast enough to remove a priest who had been accused of sexual abuse (the priest is now charged with abuse that allegedly occurred between 2000 and 2005, against children who are now eleven and thirteen years old).
The press release from VOTF argues that because Skylstad and George stand “accused of personally having failed to comply with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young Adults,” which “represents the official policy of America’s Catholic bishops,” they should immediately step aside and have the positions filled by interim leaders.
If the situation is as serious as the press release says, why stop at asking them to resign their positions with the bishops’ conference? Yes, Skylstad and George are number one and two at the USCCB, but their situations in this matter are vastly different, which is what makes so unfortunate VOTF’s use of the term “the accused bishops” to refer to them. Is this the best response to the situation?
Does anyone at VOTF have the capacity to make distinctions?
Cardinal George had a case of current clergy sexual abuse brought to his attention; he seems not to have followed the rules of the Charter or his own review board (I say seems because I only know what I read in the papers). Rumors have been around that he would like to resign (as archbishop). Maybe Rome won’t let him.
Skylstad faces a civil suit (which requires no police investigation or threshold evidence) from an incident said to have occurred over four decades ago. If Stephen Rubino is indeed the lawyer, are we dealing with a charge that has brought by an anonymous women and, as with his last splash in the news, concoted with the help of a therapist of uncertain standards. (Go back and read what the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin went through.)
VOTF wants to be the spokesorganization for U.S. Catholics (or at least the liberal part of it), but who could have any confidence in their intelligence or judgment? Not the bishops. And not most Catholics. For good reason!
Dear Grant and Peggy,
Below is the VOTF’s statement of George and Sklystad. It seems that Grant is wondering why they have not gone further (maybe tongue in cheek) and Peggy is saying they went too far. Yet the statement seems to say that since they are the leaders in this very area they should step aside pending the investigation. There is no agreement as to the truth or untruth of the matter. Certainly VOTF needs to say something in this matter. What would you suggest?
Voice of the Faithful Calls for Bishops to Step Down From USCCB
Newton MA, March 10, 2006 – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) stands in an embarrassing and unacceptable position. Both the president and vice president of the USCCB stand publicly accused of personally having failed to comply with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young Adults. The Charter represents the official policy of America’s Catholic bishops. The public credibility of the Charter, the accused bishops, and the entire Conference of Catholic Bishops is at stake. There is no mistaking the seriousness of this moment.
This situation requires immediate action by the USCCB to name an interim leader of unquestioned integrity and commitment to the Charter. The charges filed against Bishop Sklystad and Cardinal George are serious and must be investigated immediately and thoroughly by an independent review board that must make its findings public. While this investigation is pending, the USCCB needs the leadership of an interim president and vice president. The urgency of this action cannot be overstated.
From the beginning VOTF has been designed around the idea of things arising from the grassroots members. The focus has been on local Church acting on its concerns without imposing top down decisions of actions. While we realize that in the present age of technology people can be informed at the speed of a microsecond we also realize that we need to be sure that the information we receive is correct.
With respect to the situation with Cardinal George in Chicago, the national officers and representative council have been relying on our Chicago members to determine what is best for the local Church of
Chicago because it is the Church of Chicago’s Church. Just today, March 20, an independent review board established by Cardinal George has released their report. The Cardinal was wrong in what he did.
With respect to Bishop Skylstad certainly the incident needs to be investigated. Many know of instances of one-strike persons who have served the national Church admirably in both small and public ways who have been removed on the same level of accusations.
Clearly the two situations involving these men are different but they both are situations which are addressed by the Charter and what ties the men together in this instance is not that they are both ordinaries but that they are the leaders of the USCCB.
We respect the opinions of both Grant Gallichio and Peggy Steinfels but ask that they look at both our website http://www.votf.org and contact either the national office or our officers to find out what, why, and how National VOTF thinks and acts.
Gaile M. Pohlhaus, Ph.D.
National secretary of Voice of the Faithful and a reader of Commonweal for over 55 years
To Dr. Pohihaus,
You argue that it is important that information be correct. What is the information about Bishop Skylstad? A suit has been filed. By whom? What evidence is being offered for the charges? How old was the woman filing the suit when the alleged incident(s) took place? There seems to be a gap between the claims VOTF makes and the available information.