Church turns to a woman
Still reeling from the effects of sex-abuse scandals involving hundreds of priests nationwide, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has taken the extraordinary step of naming a woman as the first executive director of the church’s Office for Child and Youth Protection. Extraordinary because the Roman Catholic Church traditionally has handled its own affairs and problems in its own way with its own people, those people being almost exclusively men. For the bishops to choose a woman for what is viewed as a key role in the effort to undo a legacy of cover-up and deception in the handling of child molestation cases involving priests is indeed remarkable.
Now, the bishops’ choice, 51-year-old Kathleen McChesney, is no ordinary woman. She is a lifelong Catholic. But she’s also one of the top FBI officials in the country. For almost a year she’s been the bureau’s executive assistant director, responsible for liaison between the nation’s 18,000 law enforcement agencies and bureau operations in 44 countries.
She comes to the church position with high praise from FBI Director Robert Mueller and prominent Washington attorney Robert Bennett, who ran the job search among more than 40 candidates. “She was just made to order,” Bennett said.
To McChesney, her goal as director of the Office for Child and Youth Protection is simple: “No more cases” of sexual abuse.
Her selection is an encouraging sign that the bishops are serious about turning the corner on a festering problem cloaked in deceit that, once it was revealed, has shaken the church to its very foundation. The bishops themselves badly bungled their attempts at damage control, leaving millions of Catholics with discomforting doubts about their long-held beliefs and raising questions even among non-Catholics.
McChesney will facilitate the church’s recovery effort, but it’s up to the church itself, namely its hierarchy, to make it happen. The Office for Child and Youth Protection, working in conjunction with the National Review Board and the bishops, will succeed only if given free rein to succeed. That means no more deception on the part of the church; no more covering up incidents of sexual abuse; no more pretending this is something that doesn’t happen.
The Roman Catholic Church in America has taken a critical pounding over the last year, and deservedly so. The road back will be long and difficult. Naming Kathleen McChesney appears to be a step in the right direction.