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Chaplain to tackle church scandal

Cougar News Services

In 1985, Father Thomas P. Doyle wrote a report that was privately distributed to the nationis Catholic bishops and promptly ignored.

The document warned against what would become the darkest scandal to cloud the Catholic church in the 20th century: alleged widespread pedophilia among members of the clergy.

Today, Doyle, an Air Force chaplain, is often used as a consultant and court expert for U.S., Canadian and British cases of alleged sexual abuse by church clergy.

Doyleis report, which he compiled while working at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, D.C., is the topic of his April 9 lecture at UH.

His lecture, titled "A Higher Calling: Reporting Sexual Abuse in the Catholic church," will come as a part of the Law Centeris Doherty Chair Ethics Series.

Doyle believes the Catholic church needs to stay away from simply denying any sort of foul play and come clean about the reported incidents. 

"To acknowledge the problem in its fullness would open the whole system to critique," Doyle has said, implying that the clerical structure may need to be assessed for inherent flaws when dealing with these problems. Full disclosure would "weaken the power base and strength of the hierarchy," Doyle said.

Doyle also cites what he describes as the churchis "closed-in" culture as contributing to the recent crisis. Doyle says that culture has separated churchgoers from church leaders, as though "we (clergy) are somehow different, apart and above the laity."

The lecture is free and open to the public. It will be held in the Hendricks Heritage Room of the Law Center.
 

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