Wings moving through the dark

	Bishop Robert J. Banks

This Sunday, the Church celebrates, for almost the 2000th time, the feast of Pentecost. Once again, it prays with confidence for the continued coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church and its leadership. To understand what Pentecost is all about we have to go back to John's Gospel and its description of Jesus' last night with his apostles.

We are all familiar with the scene. Jesus gathers with his apostles for their last supper together. He knows, though they do not, that tomorrow he will die. As he looks at the 12 gathered around the table, he sees good men, loyal followers, who have decided that he holds the keys to the future.

But he also realizes that they are human. They have, time and again, misunderstood what he had said. There are minor rivalries for leadership among them. He knows that, without his presence, they will most likely split up and, even if they stick together, they probably will do a poor job passing on his message.

There is a solution, however. Jesus, after he goes to his Father, will send the Holy Spirit. In effect, it will be through the Holy Spirit that Jesus will continue to be with the apostles and in the Church. The Spirit will remind the apostles of what Jesus taught, guaranteeing that the true Gospel will continue. Also the Spirit will keep the apostles united with one another and with Jesus. All those who believe the preaching of the apostles will share in that union with Jesus. And, since the future Church will be composed of human beings, the Spirit will also bring the forgiveness of sins and the power to forgive.

It is because of Jesus' promise that we celebrate with confidence the feast of Pentecost, knowing Jesus is with us to help us handle whatever faces us. Unfortunately, what faces us this year is the sexual abuse crisis, and once again I have to write about it.

From reports that have come to us, it seems that the media might decide to present in detail some cases that have occurred here. The emphasis, I believe, will be on how the cases were handled by the Diocese.

We shall have to wait to see just what cases are reported, however, I can say something about how we have handled cases since I have been here.

• We have put in place good policies for handling these cases and we have tried to follow them faithfully.

• We have not transferred priests with substantiated accusations from parish to parish.

• Nor have we transferred such priests to other dioceses where they can minister.

As you probably know, a Task Force is in place whose purpose is to report on how complaints have been handled. That Task Force may also make recommendations about how we can improve the procedures that are in place.

Our Diocese has also recently been in the national news because of my connection with the case of Fr. Paul Shanley in Boston. It might help to give an explanation of what happened.

Back in 1990, Fr. Shanley, then a pastor in one of the Boston parishes, resigned and was given a medical leave by whoever handled medical leaves. Fr. Shanley planned to spend that leave in California. As Vicar for Administration, I was asked to write the routine letter assuring the bishop in California that Fr. Shanley was a priest in good standing. I did not give the matter a second thought, since Fr. Shanley had been a pastor for years and his resignation was for normal reasons.

Since Fr. Shanley was going to California for a medical leave, I also assured the bishop there that we would take him back, lest the bishop be concerned that his diocese have to bear the responsibility if Fr. Shanley's health deteriorated.

At the time I wrote the letter, there was no obvious indication that Fr. Shanley had been in serious difficulty with the Archdiocese years before. When I wrote, he had been a pastor, apparently in good standing, for years.

Now some suggest that I should have known he was a problem because a man came to me in 1988 to complain about Fr. Shanley. The man said that when he was a patient in a mental hospital, he wanted to see a priest. A local pastoral associate recommended Fr. Shanley. The man said that the conversation with Fr. Shanley deteriorated into a sexual discussion.

I interviewed Fr. Shanley and he denied the description of the conversation, giving a reasonable explanation.

I informed the complainant that there was nothing I could do, since there was no way of proving what actually happened. I said that if he was dissatisfied with that response, he could bring the matter to the attention of the hospital authorities. That was the last I heard of it until the gentleman's story was in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago.

That was also when new allegations about Fr. Shanley made headlines across the nation. My letter was publicized as proof that the Archdiocese had covered up Fr. Shanley's record involving sexual abuse of a minor and defense of pedophilia. In reality, my letter was simply proof that Fr. Shanley had been an active pastor in the Archdiocese for years. I had never heard of the earlier problems that dated back a couple of decades.

It may be a waste of time for me to give the above explanation. The Fr. Shanley story has shocked the country, and no one is interested in minor details that really don't change the basic story. But I do think it important that the people of this Diocese know that their bishop did not lie in order to cover up for Fr. Shanley.

This is a sad way to end a column that started out with the bright promise of the Holy Spirit. But, believe it or not, there have been sadder times in the history of the Church, and the Spirit has always come through, putting us back on the right track. It will happen again this time.