ARTICLES

Hear No Evil

Not the Answer to Priest Scandal

By Robert Kumpel

On Monday, March 3, the diocese of San Diego hosted a Lenten assembly of priests at the Mission Bay Hilton, which featured Father Stephen Rossetti, CEO of the Saint Luke Institute in Silver Springs, Maryland, a clinic where for $300 a day, priests are sent for psychiatric, substance abuse and sexual problems.

One priest was positive about Rossetti's talk. "He spoke of descending into a victim stance, particularly, speaking about the [priest scandals] crisis. He described that as being passive, powerless, negative, blaming, angry, backward-focused, stuck, and frightened. He challenged us to ascend to a Christian vision of being pro-active, empowered and empowering, positive, forward focused, hope-filled, passionate, enthusiastic, and taking responsibility. And Bishop Brom told us that his priests were his joy and he was very pleased with us and respected us. That was very positive for all of us."

Although this priest liked the presentation, he found a few statements troubling. "He asked us who was to blame for the crisis, and then created a sort of false dichotomy. He said that on the left, there was criticisms of celibacy, the repressive Church teachings on sexuality, and an all-male priesthood, while on the right, the blame was upon poor screening and seminary formation, the laxity of the '60s, '70s, and '80s, or the homosexuals. But by creating a false dichotomy, he creates a new middle and puts the bar there. By saying 'the left says this and the right says that' and dismissing both of the arguments, it's not quite fair, because some of these things need to be addressed. Two other clergy I talked to also thought Father Rossetti did not direct enough attention or recognize the severity of the current crisis.

"While hope was offered, some real problems were ignored. The public sexual failures go beyond clergy molesting children and adolescents. The crisis is one of maturity of men, how males mature to manhood, and what are the classic qualities of manhood versus what behaviors we now accept in our society for men. The evidence of sexual activity with adult males by priests was not mentioned at all. This sinful activity is much more frequent than illegal sexual activity with minor males, yet it is glossed over."

The local clergyman was troubled by the misuse of sexual terminology. "The fact that the word "orientation" was used by a Catholic priest and that this word has found its way into psychological parlance is disturbing, since its users often say that this "orientation" is not able to change. Besides, this type of language implies that all types of sexual attractions are equal, good, able to be managed easily, and are isolated from deeper personality issues. Father Rossetti rightly recognized that "orientation diversity" could be a source of disunity in the priesthood and acknowledged that there are homosexual priests and bishops. He also acknowledged theological diversity and anger at church authority are potentials for disunity."

One thing that pleased this priest was Rossetti's stance against the false assumption that priests are no different than anyone else. "He said, 'Excuse me! There are seven sacraments and not just six! The challenge is to meet the dynamic tension of the sacredness of the priesthood.' There is the frail humanity in priests, but we are different, in unique intimacy with Jesus, continuing His presence in the world."

One ambiguity that troubled this priest fell under the topic of "Ethnic and Cultural Diversity as Sources of Potential Disunity in Presbyters Today." "He said that we need to be accepting of people from different cultures and that they also need to transform and understand the culture they are living in. When talking about theological diversity, he threw in the wild card -- 'orientation diversity.' He didn't explain it at all. He just said that there are homosexual priests and homosexual bishops, and that they are here. That was it -- rather than addressing it. He did not explain that homosexuals needed to be redeemed away from where homosexuality can lead." An examination of Father Rossetti's and St. Luke's record can explain such ambiguities.

Although it enjoys a worldwide reputation for treating priests, St. Luke's has been increasingly blamed in the press for its treatment methods. The state of Maryland temporarily halted all admissions in May of 2002, following the suicide of Father Alfred Bietighoger, a client receiving treatment after being accused of molesting boys.

On April 3, 2002, the Boston Globe published a story that began with the testimony of Father Jay Mullin, who was sent to St. Luke's in 1992 after being accused of molesting a boy 22 years earlier -- a charge Father Mullin denies. He told the Globe that a doctor at St. Luke's had attached a device to him to measure his arousal and then showed him various images of children in sexual positions. In recalling his session he told the Globe he was so traumatized that when he left the clinic, he had to ask the driver to pull over so he could leave the car and cry.

Another priest was alarmed at the institute's reliance on medication. He told the Globe that the priests joked that the institute's motto was "Better living through chemistry." The clinic was at the forefront of prescribing Depo-Provera, a birth control drug, which inhibits sexual arousal in men. Father Mullin was so alarmed at the "tranquilized" appearance of so many priests there that he asked to be sent elsewhere.

Father Rossetti, a priest of the diocese of Syracuse, New York, took the helm of St. Luke's in 1996. Though St. Luke's was intended as a clinic for alcoholic priests, founder Father Michael Peterson began accepting pedophiles at St. Luke's in the 1980s. Peterson disagreed with the Church's teachings on sexuality and, under his watch, the therapy at St. Luke's would affirm the homosexuality of its clientele, as documented in Jason Berry's Lead Us Not Into Temptation, published in 1992. Peterson died of AIDS in 1987.

A February 1997 Catholic World Report article discusses passages from Rossetti's 1990 book on sexual abuse, Slayers of the Soul: "Father Rossetti faults the Church for cultivating 'a climate of repression and/or obsession,' which he ways leads to deviant sexual behavior."

Courage's founder, Father John Harvey, told me in a recent interview that he was not surprised at the choice of Rossetti. "I'm a consultant to the Catholic Medical Association, and they are not too keen on any of the treatment centers. The reason they give is that it's not an effective way to handle the problem. They figure that if the individual talks with his psychiatrist, or talking with a spiritual director can be more effective than putting people away in treatment centers for a few months. That's their argument. The treatment centers are under fire more recently, St. Luke's especially. I've known people there who were very good, but I also know that some others felt that they were not doing well at all.

Rossetti denied any link between homosexuality and child abuse in an article he wrote for America magazine on April 25, 2002."No mainstream researcher would suggest that there is any link between homosexuality and true pedophilia, that is, sexual attraction of an adult to prepubescent minors. In addition, most adults in society who sexually molest minors are not homosexually oriented."

Father Thomas Doyle, O.P., is an American canon lawyer who once worked at the Vatican embassy in Washington D.C. In 1986, he warned the U.S. bishops that pedophilia was "the greatest problem that we in the church have faced in centuries." His frankness all but doomed his ecclesiastical career and he is now an Air Force chaplain in Germany. Doyle told me that while Rossetti's comments on pedophilia are correct, they are not particularly relevant. "Most pedophiles are heterosexual in their orientation. In the beginning, many years ago, most of the situations we were dealing with were pedophiles, but as more digging was done, it turned out that most of the offenders were not pedophiles, but ephebophiles, people that are compulsively attracted to young adolescents, and most of them happen to be homosexual in orientation. They are sexually attracted to young boys. Most of the priest abusers have been homosexual in orientation."

In Doyle's view, Rossetti would be a natural choice for Bishop Brom. "The bishop there would grab him to come and give a talk to his priests rather than anybody else, because Rossetti depends on the support of the bishops to keep his outfit going.... And I think that's part of the problem, because St. Luke's has not been able to be totally objective over the years, and I suspect has told some of the bishops in some instances what they wanted to hear."

The local priest who spoke to me would like to see the diocese deal more directly with the homosexual issue. "Homosexuality is a disordered passion and that's a magisterial teaching. When one has that, one needs to be redeemed from its power.... We really need a profound teaching on the truth of human sexuality, more than just Stephen Rossetti's opinion. While Fr. Rossetti might contribute to this discussion, ambiguity and psychology alone would not be helpful. I would suggest Father John Harvey, Father Benedict Groeschel, Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, the Catholic Medical Association, Dr. Judith Reisman be consulted also because of their clear teaching on sexuality and human development."

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