Catholic Church ‘evil,’ priest says
WORCESTER (MA)Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFFkshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— The Rev. James J. Scahill, a parish priest in East Longmeadow, yesterday said the Roman Catholic Church is “not the church of Jesus Christ” and has become “insidiously evil.”
He put the blame on the hierarchy of the church, which he said is “interested in power, its own power,” and said nothing will change until Catholic laypeople withhold their offerings.
“At least the Mafia is out front,” he said. “The church is insidious.”
His remarks came as American bishops are gathering in Washington, D.C., for their fall meeting. Election of one of them to head the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops tops the agenda. Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., has finished his term.
Catholics need to begin a grass-roots campaign to bring about reform, starting with their own parish priests, many of whom have remained silent during the clergy sexual abuse scandal that has gripped the church since 2002, he said. Rev. Scahill suggested that laity become more aggressive in demanding their priests become active.
Rev. Scahill, pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in the Diocese of Springfield, was in Worcester to accept the Priest of Integrity Award from Voice of the Faithful, which held its New England conference at the DCU Center. More than 500 Catholics from the New England states, including a handful from the Diocese of Worcester, attended the daylong event, which ended with a Mass. VOTF is a national organization of Catholics who remain in the church but seek justice for victims of clergy abuse, honor what it calls priests of integrity, and work to bring about reforms in the church.
Although VOTF members stay in the church, the Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, O.P., the priest who first alerted American bishops to the growing sexual abuse crisis in the church in the mid-1980s, said 40 percent of the people in Protestant churches are former Catholics.
“And the bishops don’t give a damn,” he said.
Rev. Doyle was asked by some Catholics why the Boston Archdiocese was choosing to close churches. He said it is being done for economic reasons but he also suspects some retribution is involved since the clergy abuse scandal arose out of Boston and led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard F. Law. With younger people leaving the church, members of the church hierarchy believed they needed to sell the property to restock their coffers while they could.
Rev. Scahill accepted the award from Rev. Doyle, who was awarded the first Priest of Integrity Award in 2002. Rev. Doyle said priests do not generally speak out because they are little more than indentured servants to the bishops.
Rev. Doyle, who lost his job with the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., after he first spoke out about clergy sexual abuse, said a priest can be deprived of his salary, pension, medical and dental insurance, reputation and even his car if he displeases the bishop. Rev. Doyle was also fired from his military chaplain job last year.
Rev. Scahill was honored by VOTF for his work in persuading his parishioners to withhold money from the Diocese of Springfield until they cut off financial support to the Rev. Richard Lavigne, whom Rev. Scahill called a pedophile with multiple victims and who was the prime suspect in a murder investigation.
The priest said Rev. Lavigne was collecting $1,100 a month from the Springfield diocese, plus a medical dental insurance plan “equal to my own.”
“The church is spending more money on the violators than on the violated,” he said.
Rev. Doyle said American bishops have spent “millions and millions” of dollars on lawyers to wear down victims of sexual abuse who are suing the church, and on public relations firms to help restore their image. Rev. Doyle often serves as an expert witness in these cases and said he has seen firsthand how diocesan lawyers treat victims and their families.
“This cries out to heaven for vengeance,” he said.
When bishops are asked about the tactics of the lawyers, they reply that the lawyers are doing it and not the bishops. “You hire them, you fire them,” Rev. Doyle said.
One VOTF member asked if the Boston church property was being sold to funnel money to the Vatican. Rev. Doyle said no one will be able to figure out if the Vatican is running in the red or accurately determine what diocesan finances are because the information is not available to anyone.
Another member asked if reform in the canonical structure of the church will help. Rev. Doyle, who holds a doctorate in canon law, said this would never work because church law has no separation of powers.
Voice of the Faithful is expected by tomorrow to move to Washington, D.C., where the organization will open a temporary office at the Holiday Inn to monitor the bishops’ conference.
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFFkshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— The Rev. James J. Scahill, a parish priest in East Longmeadow, yesterday said the Roman Catholic Church is “not the church of Jesus Christ” and has become “insidiously evil.”
He put the blame on the hierarchy of the church, which he said is “interested in power, its own power,” and said nothing will change until Catholic laypeople withhold their offerings.
“At least the Mafia is out front,” he said. “The church is insidious.”
His remarks came as American bishops are gathering in Washington, D.C., for their fall meeting. Election of one of them to head the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops tops the agenda. Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., has finished his term.
Catholics need to begin a grass-roots campaign to bring about reform, starting with their own parish priests, many of whom have remained silent during the clergy sexual abuse scandal that has gripped the church since 2002, he said. Rev. Scahill suggested that laity become more aggressive in demanding their priests become active.
Rev. Scahill, pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in the Diocese of Springfield, was in Worcester to accept the Priest of Integrity Award from Voice of the Faithful, which held its New England conference at the DCU Center. More than 500 Catholics from the New England states, including a handful from the Diocese of Worcester, attended the daylong event, which ended with a Mass. VOTF is a national organization of Catholics who remain in the church but seek justice for victims of clergy abuse, honor what it calls priests of integrity, and work to bring about reforms in the church.
Although VOTF members stay in the church, the Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, O.P., the priest who first alerted American bishops to the growing sexual abuse crisis in the church in the mid-1980s, said 40 percent of the people in Protestant churches are former Catholics.
“And the bishops don’t give a damn,” he said.
Rev. Doyle was asked by some Catholics why the Boston Archdiocese was choosing to close churches. He said it is being done for economic reasons but he also suspects some retribution is involved since the clergy abuse scandal arose out of Boston and led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard F. Law. With younger people leaving the church, members of the church hierarchy believed they needed to sell the property to restock their coffers while they could.
Rev. Scahill accepted the award from Rev. Doyle, who was awarded the first Priest of Integrity Award in 2002. Rev. Doyle said priests do not generally speak out because they are little more than indentured servants to the bishops.
Rev. Doyle, who lost his job with the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., after he first spoke out about clergy sexual abuse, said a priest can be deprived of his salary, pension, medical and dental insurance, reputation and even his car if he displeases the bishop. Rev. Doyle was also fired from his military chaplain job last year.
Rev. Scahill was honored by VOTF for his work in persuading his parishioners to withhold money from the Diocese of Springfield until they cut off financial support to the Rev. Richard Lavigne, whom Rev. Scahill called a pedophile with multiple victims and who was the prime suspect in a murder investigation.
The priest said Rev. Lavigne was collecting $1,100 a month from the Springfield diocese, plus a medical dental insurance plan “equal to my own.”
“The church is spending more money on the violators than on the violated,” he said.
Rev. Doyle said American bishops have spent “millions and millions” of dollars on lawyers to wear down victims of sexual abuse who are suing the church, and on public relations firms to help restore their image. Rev. Doyle often serves as an expert witness in these cases and said he has seen firsthand how diocesan lawyers treat victims and their families.
“This cries out to heaven for vengeance,” he said.
When bishops are asked about the tactics of the lawyers, they reply that the lawyers are doing it and not the bishops. “You hire them, you fire them,” Rev. Doyle said.
One VOTF member asked if the Boston church property was being sold to funnel money to the Vatican. Rev. Doyle said no one will be able to figure out if the Vatican is running in the red or accurately determine what diocesan finances are because the information is not available to anyone.
Another member asked if reform in the canonical structure of the church will help. Rev. Doyle, who holds a doctorate in canon law, said this would never work because church law has no separation of powers.
Voice of the Faithful is expected by tomorrow to move to Washington, D.C., where the organization will open a temporary office at the Holiday Inn to monitor the bishops’ conference.
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