Statement by James Goodness, Director of Communications of the Archdiocese of Newark, Concerning a Chicago Tribune Story about the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse I am upset and distressed that today’s edition of the Chicago Tribune reports erroneously the reason behind the brief time of assignment of Archbishop John Myers on the US Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse. With this story, the paper unfairly casts a dark shadow over the Archbishop’s crucial contributions to this important committee. Archbishop Myers accepted an assignment on the Ad Hoc Committee in late April in order to help draft the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. He brought to the committee expertise as both a canon lawyer and as a bishop who had dealt successfully with sexual misconduct issues in his prior post, the Diocese of Peoria. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops announced approval of the Charter on June 15. Dioceses are now implementing it. A few weeks ago, in late August, Archbishop Flynn, the chair of the Ad Hoc Committee, spoke with Archbishop Myers about the Bishops’ Conference plans to expand the Ad Hoc Committee to include representatives of each of the 14 regions of the US Catholic Church, including bishops from the Eastern rite churches. With the drafting of the Charter complete, Archbishop Myers willingly agreed to step down from the committee in order to enable Archbishop Stefan Soroko of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia, an Eastern rite Archbishop within our national region, Region 3, to join the committee as a representative of Eastern rite bishops. The Tribune story also unfairly attempted to cast doubt on the Archbishop’s efforts to deal with sexual misconduct matters while serving as Bishop of Peoria. The Peoria Diocese has stated categorically, on numerous occasions, that the information brought to the attention of Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria this year was not known when Archbishop Myers was in Peoria, and that he would have acted on it had he known. The Diocese of Peoria also has stated that the Archbishop handled all cases that arose in Peoria during his time as Bishop thoroughly with compassion and concern for all individuals involved. It is important to remember that every case of sexual misconduct brings forth extremely high levels of emotion among all individuals involved – accusers, those accused, and their respective supporters. In any attempt to reconcile the often-conflicting issues that arise when an allegation is brought forward, the bishop will reach a decision. That decision may never be fully accepted by someone on either side of the allegation. But in trying to create a “cause and effect” scenario between the unfortunate, but natural, dissatisfaction of some people in the Diocese of Peoria over appropriate decisions on specific cases and the Archbishop’s departure from the committee, the Tribune story may in fact impede the psychological healing process of the people involved. Rather than rely on facts in presenting this story about a simple case of turnover of a single Committee, the Tribune has chosen instead to give credence to speculation by people who have no direct knowledge either of the actual activities of the Ad Hoc Committee or the direct contributions made by its members. In today’s environment, speculation is all too often accepted over fact; unfortunately, in doing so here, the Tribune story does a disservice to the paper’s readers, to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse, and to Archbishop John Myers.
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