Vermont Catholic Bishop Christopher Coyne speaks with a St. Albans parishioner at a statewide series of public comment meetings this winter. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
“I’ve been a member of the Catholic Church all my life, ordained for 33 years, a bishop for eight years and I lived in Rome 4½ years — I know the glacial speed in which the church works.”
Even so, Coyne says recent developments at the global and state level give him reason for hope.
Coyne, head of Vermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese since 2015, tapped into several Vatican avenues of media access this past month to follow Pope Francis’ historic summit on clerical sexual abuse.
“We received everything in English,” the bishop says, “which is an improvement, because we often receive it in Italian.”
In the session, the pope called for “an all-out battle against the abuse of minors,” although many survivors and faithful are questioning why the statement wasn’t accompanied by specifics.
Coyne, one of a group of U.S. bishops ordained since 2002 headlines in Boston first publicized the problem nationally, understands why many Americans feel exasperated.
“If you want to push the iceberg of the church … we’re just as frustrated as anybody else.”
But Coyne believes the pope’s summit did produce some good news.
“The southern-hemisphere church finally came to realize this is not a first-world issue. There was a certain cultural denial among Africans, Indians and Asians that this kind of sin was going on. Over the years they’ve said, ‘We don’t have this problem.’ But this kind of abuse goes on as much there, too.”
Vermont also isn’t immune. The diocese, having faced more than 40 misconduct lawsuits in the past quarter-century, is opening its doors to a task force of local and state police and prosecutors that so far will report only that it’s investigating the issue.
“We continue to work and cooperate with them,” Coyne confirms.
In addition, the diocese has set up a lay committee that is reviewing the personnel files of problematic priests — the church has both the original paperwork and electronic copies — with the intent to releasing a public report naming as many as 55 offenders.
“Most are dead,” the bishop says. “Very few are alive, and they’re not in ministry.”
Coyne had hoped the committee would finish and publicize its findings this winter, but its seven members still are reading files.
“The vast majority of their work is completed,” the bishop says, “but they’re really taking time and being careful to make sure they haven’t missed anything.”
The diocese won’t identify the members of the lay committee until the report’s release, although Coyne says its chair is a “well-known” non-Catholic Vermonter with experience in law enforcement.
“People ask why we’re doing it,” the bishop says of the probe. “It’s to finally put a close, or as much as you can, on this. We continue to apologize, reach out and offer justice to survivors, and we have zero tolerance now. We still have to bear action, but I really do think there’s some important movement.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont Catholic bishop sees progress in abuse scandal.