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Cardinal Gregory’s leadership in confronting abuse crisis marked by transparency, healing

Archbishop Wilton Gregory addresses an introductory press conference in April 2019 after Pope Francis named him as the new archbishop of Washington. (CS photo/Jaclyn Lippelmann)

At his introductory press conference in April 2019 on the morning when Pope Francis had named him as the new archbishop of Washington, Archbishop Wilton Gregory pledged to work to rebuild trust and foster healing in the archdiocese, which had been shaken by the clergy abuse crisis in a personal way.

In an opening statement, Archbishop Gregory said, “This is obviously a moment fraught with challenges – throughout our entire Catholic Church certainly, but nowhere more so than in this local faith community. And as in any family, challenges can only be overcome by a firmly articulated resolve and commitment to be better. To know Christ better. To love Christ better. To serve Christ better.”

In July 2018, former Washington archbishop Theodore McCarrick had resigned from the College of Cardinals and had been ordered to live a life of prayer and penance after allegations accusing him of abusing minors and engaging in sexual misconduct with adults. In February 2019 after a Vatican investigation, the pope confirmed McCarrick’s removal from the priesthood.

In October 2018, Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s resignation as the archbishop of Washington was accepted by Pope Francis, after Cardinal Wuerl had faced strong criticism in a Pennsylvania Grand Jury report for how he had dealt with some abuse cases when he earlier served as the bishop of Pittsburgh.

In confronting the abuse crisis in the Archdiocese of Washington, Archbishop Gregory heard the concerns of priests and laypeople during meetings and parish visits.

Two months after he was installed as Washington’s archbishop, the archdiocese in July 2019 revised its child protection policy with an expanded scope and a new title, the Child Protection and Save Environment Policy, to emphasize the importance  of ensuring safe environments for people of all ages, protecting children from sexual abuse and adults from sexual harassment or abuses of power.

When the Vatican issued its long awaited report on McCarrick in November 2020, Cardinal-designate Gregory called it a “tragic chronicle” that not only detailed the former cardinal’s betrayal of his priestly calling, but it also showed systematic failure by Catholic leaders to investigate and act upon allegations of misconduct and abuse that would have prevented McCarrick’s rise through the Church’s hierarchy. Those victimized by McCarrick, he said, “should have been able to rely on the ministers of Christ’s Church to protect and respect them.” 

Before being appointed to Washington, Archbishop Gregory served as the archbishop of Atlanta from 2005 until the spring of 2019. When the sex abuse crisis erupted again in the Catholic Church in the summer of 2018, Archbishop Gregory wrote in his column for the Georgia Bulletin newspaper of the Archdiocese of Atlanta that he felt “profound anger, sadness and distress.”

When he became the bishop of Belleville, Illinois, in 1994, Bishop Gregory made sure that all priests with credible allegations against them were removed from ministry, and he met with dozens of abuse survivors to hear their stories and try to bring healing to them.

In 2001, Bishop Gregory was elected as the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and when the abuse crisis erupted in the Catholic Church following the Boston Globe’s investigations of abusive priests and negligent Church leadership in the Archdiocese of Boston, Bishop Gregory led the conference in a nationwide effort to address the crisis, as the bishops implemented the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” in 2002. 

“From this day forward, no one known to have sexually abused a child will work in the Catholic Church in the United States,” Bishop Gregory said, as the bishops adopted the charter, which includes a “zero tolerance policy” on priests who abuse children.

Under Bishop Gregory’s leadership of the USCCB, the bishops adopted a set of norms for handling accusations of abuse by priests and other church personnel, established a lay board to review how cases have been handled, and commissioned an extensive analysis of the factors involved in the crisis.

After the Catholic Church in the United States again confronted the abuse crisis following the McCarrick case, Archbishop Gregory was appointed to a USCCB task force examining further responses to the abuse crisis, as Catholic leaders have called for greater accountability and transparency among the bishops. 

In an interview, Archbishop Gregory praised the actions taken by the nation’s bishops at their June 2019 meeting to address the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, saying it involves “a procedure for receiving and reviewing allegations of inappropriate behavior on the part of bishops involving the abuse of minors or sexual harassment,” building on the 2002 Dallas charter for the protection of young people. The archbishop adds, “the bedrock issue should be the respect and treatment of those victims and survivors who may have been disbelieved, ignored and certainly insulted when they came forward with their claims in the past.”

Officials who witnessed then-Bishop Gregory’s work during the Church’s abuse crisis in 2002 and how he has addressed that challenge as archbishop of Washington praised his leadership.

Kathleen McChesney, a longtime FBI special agent and administrator, was chosen in 2002 to become the first executive director of the USCCB’s Office of Child Protection.

In comments emailed to the Catholic Standard after Archbishop Gregory was named as the new archbishop of Washington in 2019, McChesney reflected on then-Bishop Gregory’s service as the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as it addressed the abuse crisis in 2002, saying he “was extremely well-suited to lead the USCCB, particularly at the time when survivors were finding their voice and the media was paying particular attention to the devastating problems of clergy abuse. Archbishop Gregory is a listener and was not afraid to engage with survivors and sincerely apologize to them on behalf of the Church for what they had experienced.”

McChesney also noted that as a leader, Archbishop Gregory “was able to bring together bishops of differing opinions and perspectives on the appropriate response of the Church to the issues surrounding clerical abuse and the passage and implementation of the ‘Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.’  He was exactly the leader needed in those moments.” 

While she led the Office of Child Protection for the USCCB, McChesney developed and administered a national compliance mechanism to ensure that Catholic dioceses complied with civil laws and internal policies relating to preventing, reporting and responding to the sexual abuse of minors, and she coordinated a research study into the nature and scope of the problem in the Church, and later wrote a book on the abuse crisis in the Church. 

John Carr, now the director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, served as the secretary for social development and world peace at the bishops’ conference when the Dallas charter was adopted. In interviews with the Catholic Standard in 2019 and later in 2020, Carr reflected on the impact that Cardinal Gregory’s leadership had in the pivotal time when then-Bishop Gregory led the nation’s bishops in confronting the abuse crisis in 2002.

The abuse crisis, and the bishops’ actions then, impacted him as a staff member and as the parent of two teen-age sons, and as someone who has since shared his own story of being abused in the seminary. “It was personal,” Carr said.

“When everyone else was saying, ‘Don’t go too fast, don’t go too far, don’t over-react, it’s not a big deal,’ then-Bishop Gregory stood up for me, for my sons, for the Church and for victims and said (we must adopt) zero tolerance and review boards,” Carr said, adding that Bishop Gregory’s approach then was “‘we’re not going to run away from this. We’re going to take it on,’ and I am forever grateful and admiring of his leadership.”

Carr said he witnessed how then-Bishop Gregory, in the eye of that storm, “consistently stood up for victims and their families.”

The charter and its elements, including the proposed “zero tolerance” policy on clergy abuse, had to be worked through, Carr said, adding that the man who would later become Washington’s cardinal archbishop “was persistent, consistent and principled in making it happen, and he was courageous.”

Courtney Chase, the executive director of the Office of Child Protection and Safe Environment for the Archdiocese of Washington, praised Cardinal Gregory’s leadership as the archbishop of Washington in expanding its policy to emphasize the importance of protecting people of all ages.

“There is zero tolerance for any kind of abuse and zero tolerance for any abuse of power,” she said.

Chase said Cardinal Gregory leads by example, supporting the policy’s emphasis on transparency regarding all allegations of abuse and misconduct and in supporting victims and their families.

She also praised Washington’s archbishop for supporting the work of the archdiocese’s Child Protection and Safe Environment Advisory Board “and their leadership role in ensuring the policy was followed accurately by the Archdiocese of Washington, and that community members would be fully supported on the continued journey to heal after a trying two years.”

Chase said Cardinal Gregory “is part of the healing process, because he continues to be open and transparent, ensuring there is no leniency on those who abuse or hurt any members of our community.”

As archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Gregory “came in with an open mind and an open heart,” Chase said, adding, “That openness allowed him to do what he is best known for, and that is to be a strong leader and protect all in his community.”

 

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