MAY 20, 2003 and 2009 – A DAY THAT MIGHT LIVE IN INFAMY

The government and people of Ireland have spoken. Recent actions indicate they are no longer going to put up with a Catholic Church that covers-up, obfuscates, lies, deceives, and punishes the innocent. Two Irish government-sponsored commissions, the Ryan Report, which highlighted the extent of Catholic Church sexual abuse in residential homes, schools, and facilities, and the Murphy Report, which exposed clergy abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese, have led thus far to the resignations of four bishops in December, 2009, apologies from Church, government and gardai (police) leaders, and plans for investigations of clergy sexual abuse in every diocese in Ireland and an end to the deference shown for centuries to the Catholic Church. It is time the same occurred in New Jersey and the United States of America.

Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow was recently announced by newly-elected Governor Chris Christie as his nominee for New Jersey Attorney General. Since her confirmation is anticipated, her first major initiative as Attorney General should be a grand jury or other investigation of the actions of the Catholic Church statewide regarding clergy sexual abuse.

The five Roman Catholic dioceses and the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic are in need of serious investigation, cleansing, and change. I have traversed this State for the past six years as a “compassionate counselor” of clergy abuse survivors through a non-profit charity called “Road to Recovery,” and the calls from clergy abuse victims continue to come in at a rate of two to three per week, mainly from victims in the New York metropolitan area. Victims are still treated with disdain, malice, and disgust throughout the State, in every diocese, including the Eparchy of Passaic.

On May 20, 2003, I testified before a New York State Senate Committee on sexual abuse and called for the resignation of any bishop in the United States who covered up clergy sexual abuse. Three days later, I was called into the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Newark by Bishop Arthur Serratelli, Vicar General and now Bishop of the Paterson Diocese, and fired from my job as Director of Schools in a parish in Newark.

Bishop Serratelli informed me that Archbishop John Myers, who was not even courageous enough to tell me face to face that he was firing me, was contacted by the Albany Diocese on May 20, 2003 minutes after my comments before the New York State legislature. He then admonished me to “tone down my language.” He told me something I will never forget. After Bishop Serratelli slid Myers’ letter of termination across the table at me (he couldn’t even place it in my hand), he said, “You know, Bob, not all bishops are bad.” I thought to myself, “That’s what you think.”

The public is beginning to understand the heart of the Catholic Church’s clergy sexual abuse issue. Pedophile priests are not the heart of the problem. They are sick men who need help. Bad bishops are the problem in New Jersey, the United States, Ireland, and every country of the world. Over and over again, Church leaders continue to put the image of the Church above the protection of children and the public.

On May 20, 2009, six years to the day after I testified before Senator Thomas Duane’s New York State Committee, a courageous judge, Sean Ryan, released the results of his study of Irish residential homes, schools, and facilities for children. The findings were chilling: there was a systemic, deliberate, and unchallenged serial abuse of children throughout Ireland, particularly by Christian Brothers, a religious order founded in Ireland in which I spent nearly twenty-five years of my life.

I met the Christian Brothers when I was a student at Essex Catholic High School in Newark, New Jersey, from 1966-1970. I was sexually groomed and/or abused by five different Christian Brothers starting at Essex Catholic and continuing into my early years as a brother. A first cousin committed suicide in 1978 after having been sexually abused by a Christian Brother at Essex Catholic.

Six months after Judge Ryan released his report, Judge Yvonne Murphy released her report about systemic, deliberate, and unchallenged serial sexual abuse of children in one Archdiocese; Dublin. Attorney General-designate Paula Dow is obligated to follow the lead of these brave judicial servants who have done more for Catholics in Ireland than all the bishops put together. It took two brave members of the judiciary to get to the truth that the Catholic Church has covered up for centuries, let alone decades. Paula Dow could (and should) do the same for New Jersey.

As Attorney General of New Jersey, Paula Dow must get to the bottom of what former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating called the “Catholic Mafia.” She could make New Jersey a leader among the states in uncovering and revealing unchecked, systemic and deliberate abuse of power by bishops like John Myers who believe they are above the law and can do whatever they want, to whomever they want, whenever they want. The Catholic Bishops of New Jersey must be held accountable.

Catholics were told in 2003 that the Roman Catholic Bishops of the United States would be completely honest and transparent about sexual abuse by clergy. They lied again. In 2009, Archbishop John Myers put back into ministry a Newark Archdiocesan priest who was banned forever from serving around children. That was bad enough, but Myers also assigned this priest to a hospital without telling anyone, including the administrators of the hospital.

Archbishop Myers also has refused to begin the defrocking process of Father Carmen Sita, aka Gerald Howard, who serially abused children from Newark to Missouri. Carmen Sita remains a priest of the Catholic Church, while those of us who whistle blow and speak the truth cannot preside even at a funeral Mass for a relative. Myers must follow the four Irish bishops and resign, or be held accountable by our public officials. Paula Dow can help this process by commissioning an investigation of the Archdiocese of Newark and all other Catholic dioceses of the State.

Rev. Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D.
Founder and President
Road to Recovery, Inc.
46 Morris Road
West Orange, New Jersey 07052
862-368-2800
Rmhoatson1@msn.com
www.road-to-recovery.org