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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY part 1
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CONFIDENTIAL NOTE:
Please treat the contents of this document as
confidential.
NOTE TO THE READER
This is an EXTREMELY revealing document about the internal considerations
within the Roman Catholic Church about the problem of clergy sexual
abuse. It is also very prophetic. Since it was compiled in 1985, much
of what is stated here has come to fruition.
Much is discussed establishing the problem of clergy sexual abuse
within the priesthood and certain canon and civil law issues. In addition,
there is discussion about possible public opinion, how to control
public opinion, and how to suppress information from the public.
This document has been scanned in a manner to preserve its original
appearance as much as possible page-by-page. For this reason, nearly
all of the line spacings and mis-spellings were left as they are in
the original document. Some errors by the scanner are inevitable,
but the document is as true to the original as reasonably possible.
Furthermore, this is a compilation of documents by different authors.
The person scanning this document took editorial liberties to indicate
the individual authored portions with chapters. The actual page number
(where applicable) from the original document was combined with the
corresponding "chapter".
Despite the statement of confidentiality, this document is considered
public knowledge as it was used as evidence in the 1997 trial of several
plaintiffs vs Fr. Kos and the Diocese of Dallas.
Scanned January 1998
Executive Summary
CONFIDENTIAL NOTE: Please treat the contents of this document as
confidential.
Further, it is my opinion that the contents of this document are my
professional and personal remarks and should not be construed as a
national plan for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, for
Major Superiors of religious communities. The professional and personal
opinions are given individually to each person who has possession
of this document for their personal reaction and for one psychiatric
approach to dealing with this complex moral, legal, and psychiatric
problem.
(Rev) Michael R. Peterson, M.D.
President
Saint Luke Institute, Inc
This confidential document had its remote beginnings in January of
1985 as a result of the consequences of the unfortunate incidents
in Louisiana. The three major parts of the final draft were prepared
in May of 1985 and this final draft was compiled on June 8 9, 1985
by Mr. F. Ray Mouton, J.D. and Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, O.P.J.C.D.
THE PROBLEM OF SEXUAL MOLESTATION BY
ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY
MEETING THE PROBLEM IN A COMPREHENSIVE
AND RESPONSIBLE MANNER
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this document is to provide to Bishops
and Major Superiors of Religious Communities information concerning
a growing problem of sexual abuse of children and adolescents by clerics
and religious brothers. In this document, all references will be made
to clerics and it is meant to include all male clerics (permanent
deacons, transitional deacons, priests, bishops) and professed religious
brothers.
As stated on the previous page, the contents of this document represent
the personal and professional opinion of one person, Reverend Michael
Peterson, H. Further, this document is not meant to be an advertisement
for the Saint Luke Institute or the St. Bernardine Clinic which I
head personally. I am also in no way trying to be an advertisement
for any other program and I apologize profusely in advance if it appears
in any way that I am detracting from any of the existing programs.
This is not my purpose. I simply believe that the issues in this area
are so complex that we need guidance from the Bishops of the U.S.
as well as guidance from many other professional persons, including
moralists, attorneys, psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric social
workers and many others. This document is a baseline for the beginning
of the discussions which I pray will come from presenting some of
these issues from my personal viewpoint.
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CLINICAL/LEGAL PRESENTATION: In this section of the document, I define
for you the three most common sexual problems in clerics that I have
seen and that I am aware many of my colleagues have seen:
(a) Compulsive Heterosexual/Homosexual Acting Out
(b) Pedophilia or Sexual Molestation of Minors
(c) Exhibitionism
I point out in this section common ways in which these three sexual
problems present themselves in Roman Catholic clerics.
LEGAL ADVICE: In this section of the document, I mention in an all
too superficial manner the following issues with respect to civil
law:
(a) Choosing an Attorney for Advice
(b) Reporting Laws in Your State
(c) What Advice Will Your Attorney Give You
(d) I Am Not An Attorney
This is a very important section that has a much more comprehensive
treatment in the section called "Confidential Crisis Proposal" in
this document.
CLINICAL EVALUATION OF THE CLERIC:
In this section of the document, I give my personal opinion as to
what should be essential components of any evaluation of a cleric
who is suspected of having a sexual problem as severe as pedophilia
or exhibitionism. This is quit specific and again a personal and professional
opinion. Mention is made of four Roman Catholic evaluation facilities
which could be used.INPATIENT TREATMENT PROGRAM: In this section of
the document, I again give a professional opinion as to the components
of inpatient treatment programs that should be present if you are
planning to send any cleric for treatment of this complex paraphilia
disorders.
AFTERCARE PLANNING: In this section of the document, I list six possible
areas of discussion for Aftercare Planning, which is one of the most
important aspects of any treatment program. This psychiatric disease
is a lifelong disease and the treatment of it in the cleric, though
there is new hope in some treatment modalities, must also be a lifelong
treatment plan. It is here that much discussion will be generated
and where you can be most helpful to us at the Saint Luke Institute
and perhaps at the other programs where you have clerics now in treatment.
JOHNS HOPKINS PROGRAM: En this section, I have copied for you the
literature packet that is given to potential patients in the Sexual
Disorders Clinic which is Co Directed by Dr. John Money and Dr. Fred
Berlin; these two mental health professionals are considered by me
and most people in the field as the two U.S. experts and ones who
have had good success in treatment of the paraphiliac disorders in
the past fifteen years.
CLERGY MALPRACTICE: In this section, there is a short article with
which you may already be familiar. It is written by an attorney and
is entitled "Clergy Malpractice". It is a lead story from a law journal
called Case & Comment which is put out by the American Bar Association.
CONFIDENTIAL CRISIS This is a document produced by Reverend Thomas
PROPOSAL: P. Doyle, O.P. (canon lawyer), Mr. Ray Mouton
(trial attorney), and Dr. Michael Peterson.
The "proposal" section is not meant to be a presentation to you. Instead,
I felt that it could not be excluded from the document without detracting
from the full effect of the document s questions that are posed. Much
research went into the production of this document and the same disclaimer
mentioned at the beginning of this section must be invoked in your
reading it. I would ask that you be careful if you decide to reproduce
any parts of these documents which I have assembled for you and that
the disclaimer be clearly a part of the reproduction so no misunderstandings
can develop among the treatment facilities and among the other Bishops
who are not present at this particular meeting when the document was
presented to you.
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