Morning Call – September 28, 2005

Riegler’s Response to Philadelphia Grand Jury on Sex Abuse by Priests

Dear Friends,

Good morning. “Evil triumphs when good men keep silent,” Reverend Frederick Riegler told his flock last Sunday. The pastor of St. Isidores Catholic Church in Quakertown received applause from his parishioners after his homily about the sins of his church.

Riegler greeted me after the Sunday service. He had plenty of copies of Cardinal Justin Rigali’s letter about the Philadelphia Grand Jury’s damaging report. I noted that only a few parishioners took Rigali’s letter as they left the church. In his sermon, Riegler was very critical of the Philadelphia Archdiocese response to sexual abuse by its priests.

Instead of reporting priests to the authorities and ridding the church of pedophiles, the Archdiocese covered up their crimes and reassigned pastors to different parishes, Riegler told me. Further, he was displeased because the Archdiocese advises its priests not to give media interviews.

Nearly 800 heard Riegler’s homily, which dealt with his personal knowledge of a rogue priest, Reverend Edward DePaoli. Riegler reported DePaoli’s obsession with child pornography to the Archdiocese but DePaoli continued in the priesthood. DePaoli found safety in a New Jersey parish before returning to Pennsylvania.

What happened to Catholic whistle blowers? “After his stay in New Jersey, DePaoli returned to a Philadelphia parish,” the Inquirer wrote (Sept. 25). “A nun then complained that his behavior there made her worry about the safety of children. She was fired from her position, the [grand] jury said.”

“I learned a lot,” Riegler continued. “The church has a corporate culture. Don’t make waves. Be a team player. If you’re a troublemaker, you won’t advance. People don’t want to be associated with a whistle blower,” he added.

“But these priests hurt innocent people and they [the archdiocese] looked the other way,” Riegler said. His congregation hung on every word as he gave pastoral advice. “If you confront evil, you can look at yourself in the mirror and keep your integrity. If you don’t take action, some innocent person, unable to defend himself, will get hurt. You don’t want to have to ask yourself some day, ‘Why didn’t I do something?’”

Riegler has courage. I wondered whether his criticism of the archdiocese would put him in harm’s way? He’s very outspoken about the top down authority system, which the Catholic Church employs. At the moment, when the Vatican speaks, cardinals, bishops and pastors obey…or face sanctions.

Last week, the Vatican indicated that it would soon bar homosexuals from the priesthood. In light of the pedophile scandal, the obvious implication is that Rome believes that pedophiles are homosexuals. Psychiatrists with whom I’ve consulted disagree. Pedophilia is a sickness, which strikes heterosexuals too.

Incidentally, I’ve never heard of women being pedophiles. Maybe the Vatican could wave its magic wand and appoint women as priests. “That won’t happen in our lifetime,” Father Daniel Gambet, the Past President of DeSales University told me recently.

But Gambet believes that married priests is a possibility. After all, celibacy is a rather recent notion. According to my “Timetables of History,” the Synod of Pavia made that decision in 1022.

“An all-male, celibate clergy does provide an attractive secretive environment in which potential pedophiles can easily hide,” Ray Grosswirth writes. I found him on a Google Internet search when I was researching celibacy. Could Grosswirth be right?

All I know is that the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s refusal to root out pedophiles in its midst has hurt the priesthood. And that tarnishes good priests like Riegler.

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith