Hawai'i bishop confronting church crisis

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

While Hawai'i has been largely spared the shame and outrage rumbling through Mainland Catholic parishes as the church's sex abuse scandal grows, Bishop Francis DiLorenzo has found himself having to reassure the faithful that the Honolulu diocese can deal with such cases responsibly, aggressively and openly.

Bishop Francis DiLorenzo of the Honolulu diocese visited the Blessed Sacrament Church last Sunday. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

For 15 years, he said, leaders in the church have tried to make improvements in dealing with reports of child abuse by the clergy. It hasn't been enough.

"As long as there are human beings, then we're going to wind up facing these problems," he said. "But I think we can handle them better than what we have, as a church. That is for sure."

DiLorenzo found himself dealing with the issue of clergy sex abuse nearly from the moment he arrived in Hawai'i nine years ago, when the diocese was reeling from the case against Arthur O'Brien, a Maui priest who was convicted of child molestation.

To some, even more disturbing was an allegation in 1991 against then-Bishop Joseph Ferrario, accused of molesting a boy in the 1970s. The church cleared Ferrario of charges, and a judge refused to hear the civil case against him.

The allegations made national news because of Ferrario's position. The bishop's heart problems intensified under the stress of the controversy and other pressures, and he retired in 1993.

DiLorenzo, an affable yet tough-talking, barrel-shaped Pennsylvania native with a wide smile and a 5 o'clock shadow, stepped in to take over from his colleague and was appointed bishop the following year.

Since then, DiLorenzo has required priests entering the diocese to undergo psychological testing and has instituted the use of an independent review board to advise him on matters of alleged sexual abuse.

DiLorenzo said he has asked four priests to step aside during his tenure as bishop because they were accused of sexual misconduct. In three of those cases, the priests admitted what they had done, he said. In the fourth, the evidence against the priest was strong enough to make DiLorenzo prefer to err on the side of protecting the community.

As leader of Hawai'i's nearly 215,000 Catholics, DiLorenzo said he thinks it wise to admit his professional limitations and know when to turn to the police and courts in handling sex abuse allegations.

He thinks it is important to first seek the advice of others, then act.

"I'm expected to lead," he said. "Not get bashed back and forth and do nothing."

As in other cities rocked by the scandal, some people will always second-guess the decisions of the church leadership, he said. To his critics, his response is blunt: "Get yourself a diocese and go for it, baby."

He is equally blunt in his position on abusive priests. "If it's clear that it is a case of pedophilia, that's it," he said, swinging his arm in a chopping motion. "Over. Done."

In Honolulu, priests accused of sexual abuse are not transferred to another parish or diocese, he said. They are retired and prohibited from participating directly in the ministry and from assisting others. Accused priests are asked to go to a Catholic psychiatric hospital in Pennsylvania to undergo four days of extensive analysis.

"If he is a true pedophile, then I do not believe he should be ministering," DiLorenzo said. "If this man's life is in such profound spiritual disarray, then he cannot be an icon, in any way, for Jesus."

"This whole thing," he said. "is ghastly."

DiLorenzo said anyone who has been abused should go to the authorities first.

"Go to the police," DiLorenzo said. "Whoever is coming in should have already gone to the police."

Some cases in Honolulu and elsewhere have not gone forward because the statute of limitations has lapsed. In Hawai'i, a criminal case must be filed within six years of the victim's 18th birthday. Although there are exceptions, Hawai'i law requires most civil lawsuits to be filed within two years of reaching 18.

"It is very, very difficult," DiLorenzo said, "when a person comes in with a 40-year-old case, a 30-year-old case, and there are no records to speak of, and the victim says this is the way things are. And the alleged perpetrator says, 'I totally deny it.'

"Throughout the country, this is the type of case that is emerging. Then you say, 'Go to the authorities' and the authorities say, 'You don't have a case any longer.'"

DiLorenzo said no new criminal sexual abuse cases involving diocesan priests have come to him since he became bishop. Mark Matson, a priest convicted two years ago of molesting a 13-year-old boy, was from a Mainland diocese and had been working in Honolulu.

There is at least one civil case involving a sexual abuse charge.

DiLorenzo and the diocese were named as defendants in an October 2000 lawsuit based upon the criminal conviction of Manuel Feliciano, a lay person from a Honolulu church who pled guilty to sexually abusing an altar boy. The boy's mother alleged church officials had reason to believe Feliciano might be molesting children and did not take steps to stop the abuse. The diocese countersued, contending that the psychological problems of the children were caused by the mother.

DiLorenzo said he acted on the advice of his lawyers and tried to balance the interests of the victims, the church and the people he serves in deciding to file the countersuit.

"Will other people second-guess me?" he asked. "They absolutely will. Can other people do my job better than me?"

The question was rhetorical. The bishop indulged in a round of arm-waving before answering it.

"There must be a billion of them," he said.