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WORLD March 28, 2000 VNN5763 Related VNN Stories Oakland Diocese Regrets Priests' Abuses FROM SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE USA, Mar 28 (VNN) — By Elizabeth Fernandez OF THE EXAMINER STAFF OAKLAND Ñ This was a day of profound remorse and reconciliation, of memories both recent and ancient but forever raw and wounded. Amid a season of historic contrition by the Roman Catholic Church around the world, the Oakland Diocese on Saturday held what was believed to be an unprecedented apology liturgy directed at victims of clergy sexual abuse.
Led by Bishop John S. Cummins, the diocese offered abject regret for the "grave evil" committed against countless members of the Catholic community over the years, and pledged a commitment to compassionate care of clergy molestation survivors and to never repeat the shameful sins of the past. During the service, clergy and survivors read, in turn, a text that included an exchange of prayers and lamentations depicting the wrongs done to victims and the regrets of clergy. "These evils may continue in some places in the church today," said Cummins, spiritual leader of half a million Catholics living in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, as he asked for the forgiveness of the assembled survivors. "The failure of many of the leaders of the Catholic Church to confront this abuse head-on, to... remove priest abusers and other employees from active ministry, or to take the side of the victims, has been one of the more distressing aspects of the church's recent history." Attended by about 130 people, including a handful of priests Ñ the service won the full support of the diocese's priests council Ñ the liturgy was held in a "neutral" setting in an Oakland hills lodge because many survivors are unable to enter church grounds. Many participants wore symbolic yellow ribbons, while yellow flowers festooned the lodge. "To me, the church is the people inside of it," said Bob, who was molested by a religious brother as a high school student in the Bay Area. "In my fantasy world, I still think I'll get a phone call (from the church) asking, 'Hey, Bob, how are you doing?' " Saturday's cleansing of conscience is long overdue, some maintained, by a church that long disbelieved and disavowed many victims, while quietly shuttling their abusers from one parish to another. Around the country, the Catholic Church is estimated to have spent $1 billion in clergy misconduct cases, and cases continue to become public. An arrest warrant was issued Friday in Sonoma County charging former priest Donald Wren Kimball. Kimball has been charged with three counts of child molestation and one count of rape. Two weeks ago, a tentative $1.6 million settlement was reached with the church in a civil suit against Kimball lodged by four plaintiffs. Some survivors Saturday said they hoped Oakland's historic mea culpa would generate similar olive branches elsewhere. Taking their cue from Pope John Paul II who, two weeks ago, asked forgiveness for church offenses over the last 2,000 years, bishops and cardinals in various cities have offered general apologies. Some, like the San Francisco Archdiocese, are holding general days of atonement, but no other diocese in the United States is known to be offering a day solely for victims of abuse by priests. "This is one of 188 (U.S.) dioceses Ñ in 187 dioceses, this has not happened," said Terrie Light, West Coast representative of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). A catalyst for the Saturday service, Light said she was abused as a young girl by a Bay Area priest. "I feel very grateful to be here," she said. "I ask you to (know) that you are hearing the truth." We protected our colleagues, fellow church leaders, who had stolen people's innocence. . . We preferred the easy road of pretending that things were okay rather than the hard road of calling our colleagues and friends to be accountable for their abusive behavior. One by one Saturday, survivors told harrowing stories of betrayal, of power abused, of faith desecrated. They described being robbed of their ability to trust, of being victimized anew by church officials who refused to believe them. Some said they'd been molested as small children, some were abused as adults. Some were from other religious denominations; most were Roman Catholic. "I was taught that the person you could trust was a priest," said Marlis Sender, an Orinda resident who was molested by a priest in Texas after she'd turned to him for help with a drug problem. The abuse was ignored by the priest's superiors and by Sender's staunchly Catholic family who "couldn't believe the priest was at fault. I became ostracized for leading this man into sin." Episcopal deacon Judith Ain, also an abuse survivor, said she spent long years of her life in both silence and shame. "As long as there is pressure in the church to keep keeping the secret, it will be hurtful to those of us who have been abused," she said. To Sister Barbara Flannery, the diocese's chancellor who helped organize the service, Saturday was "only a beginning, a step down a very long path that we hope will lead to forgiveness from those we have offended." For Sonia Rubino, Saturday was indeed the genesis of a new start. "I feel so relieved to be able to speak my truth at last," said Rubino, a San Francisco sales clerk and molestation survivor. "It feels so empowering to face priests here. I hope it sends a message to other dioceses."P> Copyright (C) 2000 San Francisco Chronicle Related VNN Stories  Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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