Over the past few days, in Erie, a canonical trial of a prominent New York priest has been conducted.
Mr. Donohue, 42, is the accusing witness in the church trial of Monsignor Kavanagh, the most prominent priest in the archdiocese named in the sexual abuse scandal and the only priest from the archdiocese who has been granted a canonical trial. Yesterday he was not present.
The trial, Mr. Donohue said, is hardly an ideal process. He was asked to swear an oath of silence, which he refused to do, he told the priests, on the principle that the church’s policy of silence is what has allowed priests to abuse young people with impunity for decades. Mr. Donohue chafes against his role as the star witness for the archdiocese, the very institution that he said protected Monsignor Kavanagh for years.
Nevertheless, Mr. Donohue said, the three priests in the tribunal struck him as men of sensitivity. When he turned the tables and asked them about their perspectives on clerical sexual abuse, they offered long, thoughtful answers, he said. And when Mr. Donohue broke down in tears during his testimony, he said, he saw the priests’ eyes well up, too.
“These men fully appreciated not just my story, but the opportunity to create a place of integrity between us,” Mr. Donohue said.
Secrecy has abounded at the trial. The Vatican moved it from New York at the request of the archdiocese, which said it feared a media circus. No reporters are allowed at canonical tribunals, and the New York Archdiocese has refused to comment on the trial.
Ladislas Orsy, a scholar of canon law at Georgetown University, said canonical trials take the tone of an investigation. They are dominated by a panel of three to five judges who "try to ferret out what happened exactly, and have great freedom to do so," Orsy said. The accused is represented by a canon lawyer, who faces off with a prosecutor, known as the "promoter of justice." Out of concern for the welfare of the accused, the trials are confidential.
Canonical trials "do not correspond to the modern perception of jurisprudence," Orsy said. "In a way, we remain stuck in earlier ages. For instance, justice delayed is not justice. In the church we often delay justice."
Rules adopted in 2002 allow the church to remove accused priests if there is sufficient evidence that abuse occurred. When a priest maintains his innocence, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith can opt to refer the case to a tribunal in Rome or in the U.S. If the priest is found guilty, he can be removed from active ministry or from the priesthood entirely.
After the church abuse scandal first made national headlines, Donohue contacted New York’s Cardinal Edward M. Egan to report a six-year relationship that he said began when he was 14 and enrolled in Cathedral Preparatory Seminary, where Kavanagh was rector.
As the articles indicate, the case has been public for four years now. Kavanagh was very popular and he and his supporters mounted a vigorous campaign is in own defense.
I think one of the most important things one can read about this case is this NYTimes article from September, about a letter Kavanagh wrote to Donohue’s parents back in 1984, after Donohue had broken off their friendship. If you read, just keep in mind as you do so that this is a letter written by a man in his late 40’s about a friendship with a 20-year old man.
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