The Society of Jesus — a.k.a. the Jesuits or the Jesuit Order — favour the terms “credibly accused” and “substantially accused” for those priests they have assessed as (most likely) being child abusers.
The Jesuits diligently publish these lists of priests — many of whom are deceased — whom then are deemed to be criminals. It concerns me that there never seems to be a definitive outcome. (& never seeing Not Guilty / Innocent suggests that the Jesuits believe they are 100% accurate…)
Headline from a recent edition of the America Magazine.
“America: The Jesuit Review” is the voice of the Society of Jesus in America.
In a 2018 article, James T. Keane, Senior Editor of America Magazine, reviewed the terms being used in his article titled: “If a priest is ‘credibly accused’ of sexual abuse, what does that mean? Depends whom you ask.”
Keane confirmed that US dioceses are reporting most every allegation. Since 2002 “all U.S. dioceses are required to refer allegations of sexual abuse of minors to an independent review board. In addition, many (including the Archdiocese of Chicago) report all allegations of sexual abuse of minors to civil authorities.”
The sections below are abbreviated from Keane’s article:
“Credibly accused” and “substantiated”: Texas dioceses define “credibly accused” to mean “being worked out in terms of our lawyers even now as we speak.” The Archdiocese of Chicago uses “substantiated” stating that “an allegation is deemed to be substantiated if there is reasonable cause to believe that abuse occurred.”
The Archdiocese of Minneapolis-St. Paul uses both terms defining an accusation as credible if it is “not manifestly false or frivolous” and substantiated if “sufficient evidence exists to establish reasonable grounds to believe that the alleged abuse occurred. It is not a presumption of guilt.”
“Established allegation”: The Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus uses “established allegation” instead of "credibly accused" or "substantiated." An established allegation is "based on the facts and circumstances where there is a reasonable certainty that the accusation is true and that the sexual abuse of a minor occurred.”
The Conference of Major Superiors of Men, an umbrella organization for male religious orders in the United States, also uses the language of “established allegation,” though defines it slightly differently: “Based upon the facts and the circumstances, there is objective certainty that the accusation is true and that an incident of sexual abuse of a minor has occurred.” (When the major superior has no substantive fear that the allegation is false.)
“The semblance of truth”: Canon law does not use the language of credible or substantiated but instead mandates the investigation of any offense against church law “which has at least the semblance of truth.”
“Not implausible”: The John Jay Report from 2004, defines an allegation as “any accusation that is not implausible,” including “allegations that did not necessarily result in a criminal, civil or diocesan investigation and allegations that are unsubstantiated.” The report considers an allegation implausible if the abuse “could not possibly have happened under the given circumstances.”
WESTERN JURISPRUDENCE
Fundamentals of Natural Justice and the corner-stones of Western Jurisprudence must apply. It is simply not fair or just (or Christian) that an allegation or accusation stays without final resolution.
Both sides are entitled to a timely process and the accused have a right to a full defense and should be considered “Innocent till proven Guilty.” If a priest has no-one to defend them, the Church should provide the equivalent to a ‘public defender.’ The process must lead to a definitive outcome such as “Found Not Guilty by Criminal Court” or “Found Guilty by Ecclesiastical Court.”
Conclusion
The Catholic Church must use consistent terms for sexual abuse allegations, so everyone knows what we are talking about. Also, every case must come to a final judgement.
Kevin Hay
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