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Parish petitions Youngstown diocese to name abusers
By JUSTIN DENNIS
YOUNGSTOWN
More than 500 Catholic church parishioners in Aurora are asking the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown to hasten its publication of all credible abuse allegations against diocesan clergy and establish more community oversight measures.
Bill Cushwa, a parishioner of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Aurora, hand-delivered a petition letter to the diocese offices just after noon Wednesday. It was signed by more than 500 of the church’s 700 parishioners this past weekend, he said.
The letter voices dissatisfaction with a recent diocese letter in which Most Rev. George Murry, the diocese’s bishop, pledged to publish the names of all diocesan clergy who are facing substantiated allegations of abuse within “the coming months” and asked for parishioners to pray for the victims of recent, widespread sex-abuse reports in Pennsylvania.
“We believe your letter did not go far enough,” the parish’s letter reads. “Recent and past management failures have damaged the lives of abuse survivors and their families ... and compromised the Catholic voice of moral authority locally, nationally and internationally.
“Asking for or promising ‘thoughts and prayers’ is not enough.”
The letter calls for “a new culture” of transparent leadership in the diocese, more layperson involvement – and specifically in abuse oversight efforts – a new clergy-training model and “zero tolerance” accountability for offending clergy as well as their immediate dismissal.
“A lot of people have a sense that the moral authority of the church is corrupted,” said the Rev. Jim Daprile of the Aurora church. “Who can we trust in trying to form our conscience, act with justice or participate in our world in a way that reflects the Gospel?”
The parish expects the diocese to immediately enact several oversight or reparative measures, including the release of the list of credibly accused abusers in the diocese now, rather than later.
“I can’t believe that [Bishop Murry] doesn’t have that list at his fingertips. ... Our diocese is not immune to the inappropriate behavior, the abuse that has been revealed in Pennsylvania,” Father Daprile said, adding he feels its release will lead to complaints in Youngstown from those who may have been shamed into silence.
“That’s going to happen here, quite frankly. That’s going to be in Youngstown. It is in Youngstown.”
Bishop Murry said Wednesday, though, the diocese has already compiled the list of complaints against clergy – the most recent of which was made about a month ago and referenced an incident that occurred in the 1950s – the diocese will not immediately release the aforementioned list and is instead awaiting background checks and identity confirmations for the accused clergy.
He said the diocese has previously launched abuse inquiries and later found authorities were investigating a different clergyman with the same name.
“We want to make sure before we put the names out that we have the right people,” he said.
The diocese has otherwise already enacted many of the letter’s requests, Bishop Murry said, adding he would “welcome” the inclusion of more laypeople in “charting a course for the future.”