Parish transfers of abusive Catholic priests
The parish transfers of abusive Catholic priests, also known as priest shuffling,[1][2][3] is a pastoral practice that has greatly contributed to the aggravation of Catholic Church sexual abuse cases. Some bishops have been heavily criticized for moving offending priests from parish to parish, where they still had personal contact with children, rather than seeking to have them permanently returned to the lay state by laicization. The Church was widely criticized when it was discovered that some bishops knew about some of the alleged crimes committed, but reassigned the accused instead of seeking to have them permanently removed from the priesthood.[4][5]
This article is about the Catholic Church's practice of transferring or promoting clergymen (especially priests) suspected or convicted of sexual abuse to new pastoral positions (usually in other parishes). For an overview of Catholic Church policy, see Ecclesiastical response to Catholic sexual abuse cases.Catholic Church position[edit]
"Best medical advice available at the time"[edit]
Defenders of the Church's actions have suggested that in reassigning priests after treatment, bishops were acting on the best medical advice then available, a policy also followed by the US public school system when dealing with accused teachers. Some bishops and psychiatrists have asserted that the prevailing psychology of the times suggested that people could be cured of such behavior through counseling.[5][67] Many of the abusive priests had received counseling before being reassigned.[68][69]
Responses to criticism[edit]
In response to criticism that the Catholic hierarchy should have acted more quickly and decisively to remove priests accused of sexual misconduct, contemporary bishops have responded that the hierarchy was unaware until recent years of the danger in shuffling priests from one parish to another and in concealing the priests' problems from those they served. For example, Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said: "We have said repeatedly that ... our understanding of this problem and the way it's dealt with today evolved, and that in those years ago, decades ago, people didn't realize how serious this was, and so, rather than pulling people out of ministry directly and fully, they were moved."[70]