Addressing the Crisis Bishop William F

CATÓ LICO DE KENTUCKY OCCIDENTAL December 2018 l Volume 45 Issue 10 l The newspaper of the Diocese of Owensboro l owensborodiocese.org Addressing the crisis Bishop William F. Medley, Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis and Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville talk on Nov. 13, 2018 during the U.S. bishops' fall meeting. Page 3 Around the Diocese Page 14 Español Página 18 Vocations Page 24 facebook.com/DioceseOfOwensboro twitter.com/Owensboro1937 instagram.com/owensborodiocese INSIDE THIS ISSUE Ofﬁcial newspaper of the Diocese of Owensboro Published monthly, 10 times a year at 600 Locust Street, Owensboro, KY 42301 l Stephen Van Lal Than stands before Telephone (270) 683-1545 Email l [email protected] Bishop Medley and the community of St. Publisher l Bishop William F. Medley Pius X Parish in Owensboro at his Rite of Editor l Elizabeth Wong Barnstead Admission to Candidacy Mass on Nov. 18. Contributors l Laura Clarke, Tina Kasey Page 17 Send change of address requests to [email protected] View current and archived issues at owensborodiocese.org/western-kentucky-catholic/ The Western Kentucky Catholic comes to your home as a direct use of your parish assessment dollars: “Those who exercise authority in the Church will take care to ensure that there is responsible exchange of freely held and expressed opinion among the People of God” - Pastoral Instruction of the Means of Social Communications, #116, Jan. 29, 1971. Opinions expressed in submitted columns and letters to the editor in The Western Kentucky Catholic may be edited for space, a lack of charity or a lack of clarity, and are not endorsed by the publisher or editor. No submissions are guaranteed placement in 6 Cardinal DiNardo hopeful for Church in U.S. The Western Kentucky Catholic. Challenges, opportunities follow U.S. Bishops' General Assembly Please politely indicate any factual errors in this publication by emailing [email protected]. 9 Sr. Joseph Angela Boone remembered for sense of humor, work ethic The diocese's former chancellor died on Nov. 11 5 National News In following God's will, Fr. Daniel Dillard feels joy and peace 7 Features 24 Fr. Dillard ﬁrst in new WKC priesthood series 9 Obituary Front page photo courtesy of Rick Musacchio, Diocese of Nashville. Above photo courtesy of Rosemary Trowbridge. 11 Upcoming Events Submissions 14 Around the Diocese Deadline for submissions is the 15th of the month prior to the publishing month. The Western Kentucky Catholic will take reader-submitted content into consideration but no submissions are guaranteed placement, due to space 18 Español restrictions. 24 Vocations Article guidelines: The Western Kentucky Catholic will consider submitted articles pertaining to issues and events within our diocese. Please contact the editor in advance for a word limit, as space varies by month. 26 Youth Photo guidelines: The Western Kentucky Catholic will consider your high-resolution digital photos showing special moments and memories from within our diocese. Photos must be a JPEG format (ending in “.jpg”) and sent via 28 Anniversaries email. A photo description, date, and name of photographer must be included. Please email your articles or photos to [email protected] by the 15th of the month prior to the publishing month. 29 Opinion FROM THE BISHOP’S OFFICE A Word from Bishop Medley My dear people of God, havior and not acted. from being harmed. In response to these scandals, I set out to listen to The statistics published are humiliating to us all. As In August and September, the Catholic Church in the people of our diocese, scheduling four listening bishop, I can review again and again some of the deci- the United States was sent reeling by three successive sessions across the diocese. I have had very positive sions made, certainly prior to 1980, and must admit scandals. First, there was a shameful report in Penn- experiences in listening sessions held before the 2015 that I will never understand how, in some cases, the sylvania that revealed the Church had failed to protect Synod on the Family and the 2018 Synod on Youth abuse continued even after being identified. Yes, there children from child sexual abuse for decades. It was and Vocational Discernment. Approximately 330 peo- were often testimonies from psychologists and men- small comfort that the evidence demonstrated the ple attended these recent sessions held in Owensboro, tal health professionals attesting that an offender had problem was virtually eradicated after the 2002 actions Bowling Green, Hopkinsville, and Paducah. been adequately treated and could therefore safely re- of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Second- The conversations in these sessions largely mirrored sume public ministry. Yes, it is true that most cases ever ly, the appalling story of the misconduct of the retired what we are following in the national media. Catholics reported have been reported decades after the abuse Archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, was are angry, saddened, and confused by the unthinkable and oftentimes after the abuser was deceased. No mat- revealed and questions were legitimately posed as to sin of priests abusing children and by the failure for so ter how you look at the story, it is a story of terrible sin. how this man advanced in the Church hierarchy while long of our nation’s bishops to adequately confront the The participants in the listening sessions were good seemingly exploiting both youth and young adults. problem and effectively offer healing to victims. and faithful Catholics who want their Church to be au- The third and final scandal involved allegations from In the October 2018 issue of The Western Kentucky thentically the People of God witnessing to the saving the former Vatican nuncio that high ranking officials Catholic, we published a statistical profile of the histo- deeds of Jesus Christ. Though angry and disillusioned, within the Church had been aware of McCarrick’s be- ry of this scandal in our diocese. This publication has they were not people giving up on the Catholic faith understandably helped or the Catholic Church. Many assumed that because many victims who had most priest abusers were never prosecuted, the Church not previously reported continues to cover up allegations. While that may have their experiences to come been valid in decades past, since 2002 the Diocese of forward. In some cases, Owensboro reports every report of abuse – even those these victims only want- dating back to the 1940s and those where the accused ed to be acknowledged. priests are long dead. In other cases, they were While we still receive historic cases of sexual abuse asking for counseling as- reported long after the victim is an adult, we have re- sistance to further their ceived reports from four victims since 2002 where the healing. In all cases, they victims were reporting as a child or underage youth. wanted to be assured All four of these were reported to child welfare enforce- that the Church is acting ment authorities, and the two priests identified have responsibly now and that been permanently suspended from any public ministry we do everything we can and will not again have any priestly assignment. One to prevent anyone else important point made to me is that even in these cases Continues on page 4 December 2018 3 FROM THE BISHOP’S OFFICE Bishop Medley continued from page 3 we have not done a good enough job of accounting to ways we can better give an accounting to the public and thought. As American Catholics (people and priests the people. Clearly this has resulted in some believing still protect the identity of victims. and bishops), we sometimes believe that an American that the priests involved have not been treated justly. With the conclusion of the local listening sessions, issue must always be the most important issue for the I will consult with the Diocesan Review Board about I felt better prepared to participate in the November universal Church. Can we allow that the Vatican is meeting of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops challenging us to listen to the larger Church and con- BISHOP MEDLEY’S CALENDAR where the bishops were to concretely address the consider our issues in a broader context? At the same time, DECEMBER 2018 cerns. The bishops were to discuss standards of con- we know that bishops from some parts of the world in- duct for bishops (responding to the McCarrick scan- sist that child sexual abuse is unknown in their cultures. “The Art of Accompaniment” DEC 4 Discipleship Event – Ballard Convention dal), and to identify a process whereby allegations of Knowing that we are dealing with human sickness and Center, Madisonville misconduct by bishops could be reported. I felt like I evil, perhaps our American tragedy can inform other Catholic Conference of Kentucky had heard the voices of the people of our diocese and nations and cultures to acknowledge problems they DEC 5 Meeting – Louisville thus was ready to add my voice to these discussions. have yet to admit they have. In other words, can the 9 a.m. | Mass – Owensboro Catholic The bishops’ meeting in Baltimore opened with catholic (small “c”) church, catholic meaning univer- DEC 6 Schools K-3 Campus, Owensboro an announcement from our conference president that sal, benefit from input from around the world? Can 9 a.m. | Mass & Farewell Reception the Vatican, specifically the Congregation for Bishops, we as Americans humbly acknowledge that others may for Deacon Dirck Curry – St. Stephen had asked that the U.S. Conference delay any decisive inform us in important ways? DEC 8 Cathedral 5 p.m. | Mass For the 150th Anniversary actions until after the February 2019 meeting of con- One might say that our resolutions are on hold.

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