Should I Report Abuse if Someone Else Already Did?
Evidently, it takes more than one report for a diocese to take a possible case of abuse seriously.
I was recently witness to an adult Vos Estis type case of abuse and had to report it to my diocese. I had incriminating emails and text messages, which I included in the email, along with a timeline of what I saw happen.
After I submitted it, all I recieved was a form letter back, “thank you for reporting your concern.” No follow up whatsoever.
I honestly didn’t expect much (I have a low opinion of diocesan offices in general), so I shrugged it off. I'd done my duty, it was nothing the cops would respond to, time to move on. Then I got a call from someone else who knew the priest and woman involved. A mutual acquaintance had mentioned to her that I had reported something.
“I saw stuff too.” She said. “Could we talk about what you reported so I can figure out if I need to say something or not?”
I refused to share details with her, and told her she needed to report what she'd seen independently of what I'd seen. She took my advice — and got an immediate call back from the diocesan safe environment coordinator, who asked her a bunch of detailed questions about what happened and urged her to ask anyone else she knew who saw something to report it.
“Huh.” I thought.
I don't know what she reported: we both agreed that we wanted to avoid influencing the testimony of the other. It's possible that she saw something more concrete and actionable than what I saw. But I still found it strange.
Not long after this, I volunteered for my kids’ Vacation Bible School at our local parish. My safe environment training was very much expired, so I had to sit through online training for my diocese.
Something that was mentioned more than once during this training was, “it takes multiple instances of grooming to establish a pattern. Always report if you've seen something. These reports, gathered together, help form a complete picture.”
Then I remembered my own instance of abuse. The priest in question was being actively sued by two other victims. “I don't need to report”, I thought. “Surely the diocese already knows; it's the newspaper!”. It wasn't until I'd heard that the lawsuit was going nowhere that I emailed the diocese the priest was in, told my story, and asked that at least they took it seriously. I later found out that it wasn't until after I'd sent it and the diocesan official had spoken to me that the priest was removed from ministry. (I know it was my direct testimony that did this because the abbey where the priest lived sent a representative more than 500 miles and across state lines to talk to me. She told me this, then pressured me to say I thought he could re-enter ministry).
I recognize that I don't have any statistical evidence to back the claim I'm about to make. Neither do I have access to a diocesan safe environment coordinator to ask if this is actually how it's done. But I suspect that many, if not most, dioceses have a policy of refusing to act if only one instance of abuse has been reported.
Not grooming. Abuse.
Is this just? In many cases, probably not. It takes a great deal of courage to write one of these emails or to make that call. These abusers are usually very well liked and trusted in the community, and even victims of abuse often don't want to disrupt their community or get their abusers into trouble. In some cases, the fact that even one person managed to report may be a small miracle. But a policy of “must be multiple reports” might very well be the reality.
So should you report, even if you know someone else already did, and did so in great detail? In a word, yes. Assume that it will take your diocese more than one report to act. Write an email including absolutely everything concerning that you saw, and encourage anyone else who saw something to do the same.
And even if you think you're the first, report. Dioceses don't exactly broadcast how many reports they have on people. You may be the first and lay the ground work, or you may be the second or third and the final straw that keeps them from hurting anyone else.
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It certainly depends on the diocese. From my understanding and observation in San Antonio, one report is enough to spur a serious investigation. That being said, every witness can help create a case of credibility.
Thank you for writing this.