Former state's attorney Linda Pieczynski first encountered clergy sex abuse of children 20 years ago when a fellow parishioner told her that Fr. Fred Lenczycki, the priest who had baptized her daughter, was molesting altar boys at her own parish. The local police said no one had reported anything. The church refused to cooperate. Years later, after the abuse scandal exploded in Boston in 2002, Pieczynski went to the state’s attorney and told him the statute of limitations had not run out on Fr. Fred. He was convicted, and today is serving a five year prison term.
Pieczynski discussed the findings and recommendations of the National Review
Board, especially its insistence that “power without accountability is
tyranny,” so bishops must hold each other accountable. To this day, it's
not happening, she said. Now the toughest NRB members have been replaced. Not
a single abuse survivor has been appointed to the NRB. Many bishops oppose continuing
the annual audits of diocesan compliance with the Dallas charter. Multi-million
dollar legal settlements are rife. Catholics' trust of the hierarchy is at an
all-time low.
As dioceses in Portland, Ore., and Tucson have declared bankruptcy, and other
dioceses will follow, Pieczynski predicted that eventually the U.S. Supreme
Court will have to decide who really owns church property, the bishops or the
people. Either way, it's past time to heed the NRB's recommendation that the
lay people have more to say about the selection of future bishops.
“This crisis may take another 10 years to play out in the court system,”
she said. While this happens, more people continue to leave the church or withhold
contributions. Her advice: if you leave, don't leave quietly. And if you stay,
don't stay quietly.
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Linda Pieczynski's talk
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