Services that respond to abuse allegations
Diocese of Brooklyn
on clergy sexual abuse
May 2, 2006

In the four years since the clergy sexual abuse scandal broke, every (arch) diocese in the country has established services to address the problem.  In the Diocese of Brooklyn that has included a Diocesan Review Board, a Victim/Survivor Assistance Coordinator, Safe Environment programs, Virtus training, a ministry to priests on administrative leave, background checks, and a toll-free telephone number to report allegations of sexual misconduct by clergy.

An outline of the work of two of the services follows: the Diocesan Review Board and the Victim/Survivor Assistance Coordinator.

Diocesan Review Board

As members of the Diocesan Review Board on sexual abuse of a minor by a clergyman, "we feel we're part of the healing process, addressing the proble, and helping to restore faith in the Church as an institution and in the priesthood."

That is how Professor Bernard G. Helldorfer, the chairman, assesses the work of the board, which has met 68 times to discuss cases brought before it since Bishop Thomas V. Daily established the panel in late 2002.

Reflecting on the response to their service, Professor Helldorfer said both now retired Bishop Daily and his successor, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, "have expressed their trust" in the work of the board.

Functioning as a confidential consultative body to the bishop, the eight-member panel is guided by the U.S. bishops' 2002"Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" and the accompanying "Essential Norms" for diocesan policies dealing with allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clergy.

The work can be daunting, requiring the review of sometimes "voluminous" files, said Professor Helldorfer, an attorney who directs the Legal Studies Program in St. John's University Division of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies.

the process begins when the biship asks the board to review a report he has received of an allegation against a clergyman.  With authority to study all aspects of the case, the members read the documentation.  They then outline a plan to investigate the allegation with a private investigator, who is a fomer detective in the New York City Police Department with experience in cases involving the sexual abuse of minors.

When the investigation begins, the investigator submits "regular detailed interim reports" to the board, Professor Helldorfer said.  the board evaluates each report and determines whether further investigation is needed.

On the completion of the investigation, "we conduct a comprehensive ad indepth analysis of the results of the investigation, develop a proposed recommendation and conduct a vote on the proposed recommendation," he said.

The writing of an executive summary follows, stating the essential elements of the review.  After it is presented to the bishop for his consideration, he studies it further, makes his decision and responds to the summary with a letter to the board stating action to be taken.

The summary produced by the board is "well-reasoned," based on the amount of information available to it, the chairman sais.

Professor Helldorfer said the board has reviewed some 25 cases, advising the bishop on 18 of them, indication whether they have found an allegation credible and whether the clergyman should remain in ministry.

"Our role is to consult on the matter and advise the bishop, but no to judge on the merits of the case," he said.  The final decision is left to the bishop after he undetakes his own review.

One of the eight board memebers, Msgr. Edward B. Scharfenberger, a civil and canon lawyer and pastor of St. Matthias Church, Ridgewood, said he is impressed with the calibre of individuals on the panel and their commitment to its work.

"it did not take long for the members to build up respect for one another" when they were chosen to serve their five-year terms, he said.  "They have a depth of honesty and a breadth of concern for all the parities involved.  We collaborate and work well together."

The panelists come from the fields of law, government, law enforcement, social service, family life, medicine, the priesthood and leadership in religious life.  One was a victim of sexual abuse as a minor.

In addition to Professor Helldorfer and Msgr. Scharfenberger, they include Thomas A. DeStefano, former executive director of Catholic Charities who also sists on the National Review Board; Sister Veronica Greeley, former prioress of the Amityville Dominican Sisters; Joann Heaney-Hunter, professor of theology and director of the University Core Curriculum at St. John's University and a lecturer and author on the practice of Christian marriage and family life; John J. Laffey, former deputy chief of the New York City Police Department, a former police commissioner of the City of

Long Beach and now its City Manager; Dr. James J. Lynch, a physician in private practice in adolescent, adult and forensic psychiatry, and Luis A. Torres, Jr., an attorney in New York City government.

Conforming with the "Essential Norms" which say that the participation of the diocesan Promoter of Justice on the review board "is desirable," Msgr. William A. Varvaro, the former Judicial Vicar and pastor of St. Margaret's Church, Middle Village, serves in that capacity.

Professor Helldorfer said the chief investigator, Brenda Vincent-Springer, has performed investigations "with the highest degree of commitment and integrity."

Added Dr. Lynch: "The board remains committed to the work of protecting the young people of our Diocese by advising Bishop DiMarzio."

Victim/Survivor Assistance Coordinator

For Amityville Dominican Sister Ellen Patricia Finn, the past three years as Victim/Survivor Assistance Coordinator for the Diocese have meant looking into people's hearts, seeing the incredible hurt they have endured and sharing their ever-present pain.

Despite her social work training and practice, such incidents never fully ease the anxiety before the next contact with a survivor...and the next...and the next.  But then the unexpected happens and leaves an indelible mark and a story to be told.

Abused when he was a pre-teen, a victim grew to manhood developing a long history of alcohol dependence, becoming estranged from his parents and other family members, entering a marriage that became troubled and ended in divorce, and experiencing a seeming loss of faith in the Church.

Seeing reports of sexual abuse by clergy in the media, he reported his experience to the Diocese, and Sister Ellen became involved in his case.  She contacted her counterpart in the diocese in another state where the victim was living, who identified a local counselor.

The victim, still hurting, at first resisted the family counseling offered to him, his wife, whom he had married civilly, their child and two children from the wife's previous marriage.  In time he agreed to attend the sessions.

Other positive steps followed.  "the family was connected to a wonderful parish community in their state," Sister Ellen said, and the couple attended a Retrouvaille program to help couples who need healing in their marriages.

When the Brooklyn Diocesan Review Board investigated the case, the members found the allegation to be credible.  Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio read the board's summary and agreed with its findings.

Subsequently, the bishop met the couple and apologized to the victim in his own name and in the name of the Church.  Their conversation was "moving, open, honest and very challenging," Sister Ellen said.

As time went on, the couple "wanted desperately to be welcomed at the table of the Lord," she said.  Working with the tribunal in the couple's home diocese and their therapist, she helped prepare the paperwork required to begin the process of seeking an annulment of the victim's first marriage.

In the period of time that passed as the annulment proceeding progressed, the victim make contact again with his parents, who were "thrilled to have their son back," Sister Ellen said.

Eventually the annulment was grated.  The couple chose the Saturday before Palm Sunday to have their marriage sacramentalized; it coincided with the anniversary date of their civil marriage.  They invited Sister Ellen to attend, and she presented to them a papal blessing, a gift from Bishop DiMarzio.

She smiled remembering that the couple was "so very grateful" to the bishop for his role in helping them come back to the Church, and that they had wanted him to be the best man.

No longer estranged from his family and having returned to the Church of his youth, the victim/survivor told his story to hsi parish. "The same Church whose priest abused me, has been here to help me heal ad welcome me home." Sister Ellen recalled him saying.

"This indeed was the Church at its best, working together to care for the lost sheep who returned to the fold in time for Easter and the Resurrection of Our Lord," she said.

"It's a redemption story," Sister Ellen acknowledged, "but it's a isolated one."

In her time as Victim/Survivor Assistance Coordinator, she has met with 69 individuals.  "The pain they still suffer from the abuse they experienced is so very deep," she said.  "Many have lived tormented lives, caught up in various forms of substance abuse, estrangement from family, friends and Church, feeling isolated and abandoned."

Sister Ellen, whose primary work is associate executive director of Catholic Charities, said, she feels "privileged to be invited to enter the lives of people who have been hurt.  Most are spiritual people."

That the abuse came "from someone who represented God has troubled the victims almost beyond repair," she said, adding that they live "within the crosscurrents" of anger and pain, betrayal and forgiveness, hope and dismay, atonement and denial.

"Given the fact that their abuse is something they will never forget, we hope and pray they can come to forgiveness, healing and wholeness," she said.

"The compassion of Bishop DiMarzio showed to the out-of-state family that came back to the Church before Easter was so important to their resolution to return," she said.

Sisiter Ellen's effectiveness as a diocesan victim/survivor assistance coordinator was recognized two years ago when the Office for Child and Youth Protection of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops named her one of ten model coordinators in the country.

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5/2/06