The Washington Post - 05.10.2019

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Virginia diocese earlier this year

alleging that Bransfield sexually

assaulted him declined to com-

ment for this article. His mother

told The Post that many priests

“whom he called friends and

brothers” and many of his former

fellow seminarians for the most

part have kept their distance from

him.

“They feel they have to choose

the church,” she said. The Post

isn’t naming her to protect the

anonymity of her son. The Post

doesn’t identify sexual assault

victims without their permission.

The man and the Wheeling-

Charleston Diocese reached an

unspecified settlement over the

summer.

DeGeorge’s allegation of sexual

mistreatment by Bransfield be-

came widely known recently

when The Post reported it in a

profile of William Lori, the Balti-

more archbishop who led the in-

vestigation of Bransfield.

In a lawsuit filed Sept. 13 in

Ohio County, DeGeorge alleges

that Bransfield, the diocese and

the United States Conference of

Catholic Bishops did not rein in

someone known as a harasser,

leaving seminarians vulnerable.

Many priests and his former

classmates still avoid him — or

speak of him as a troublemaker,

DeGeorge said.

In Buffalo, the priests about

whom Parisi and Bojanowski

spoke out were suspended for a

few weeks and returned to minis-

try in June. Bishop Richard Ma-

lone issued a statement that semi-

narians who spoke out “are to be

lauded for coming forward.” Ma-

lone is accused of mishandling of

sexual abuse and misconduct cas-

es. The Vatican on Thursday an-

nounced it is investigating broad

allegations church leaders have

mishandled clergy abuse cases.

After more than 20 years serv-

ing Catholic organizations, Parisi

says he’s looking for work outside

the church.

“There needs to be major re-

form... But in my view, that

won’t happen. The system is a

very well-oiled machine,” he said.

The church hierarchy believes “it

doesn’t need fixing in their view

because it’s running exactly the

way they want it to.”

[email protected]

vast majority of seminarians —

were enrolled in programs in 2018-

2019, according to Center for Ap-

plied Research in the Apostolate.

Seventeen percent said sexual

abuse or misconduct is a problem

at their schools, the survey found.

Asked whether their administra-

tors take the issue seriously,

84 percent said “very,” while

11 percent said somewhat, a little

or not at all. Of the 10 percent who

said they have experienced, or

may have experienced, sexual ha-

rassment, abuse or misconduct,

51 percent said they had not re-

ported it. Of those who did, 42

percent said their reports were

either “completely” taken seri-

ously and acted upon or acted

upon “for the most part.”

To get the seminarians to talk,

researchers offered anonymity.

“They are afraid they’ll be

judged as temporarily unfit, too

assertive,” John Cavadini, direc-

tor of Notre Dame’s McGrath In-

stitute for Church Life, which

crafted the research, said of semi-

narians. “That’s one aspect of

seminary education you wouldn’t

have a close parallel of outside

seminary. The bishop is a peculiar

concentration of power in one

person.”

The Rev. Carter Griffin, rector

of the St. John Paul II Seminary in

the D.C. Archdiocese, said that, if

taught correctly, obedience to

church authority can be a beauti-

ful act, “to follow the Lord

through the word of another.”

But younger men who grew up

in the shadow of earlier abuse

scandals know that automatically

going “into protection mode” isn’t

wise for the church, Griffin said.

Regardless of what higher-ups do,

he said, seminarians must do

what’s right.

“It might mean that people will

misunderstand you, there may be

consequences for your actions

and you have to shoulder those,”

he said.

Shunning as punishment

Speaking out, especially for

those who do not leave seminary

or the priesthood, can be risky.

Some seminarians report a lack of

support from their classmates —

even social shunning.

An unnamed seminarian who

filed a lawsuit against the West

many questions.

An internal church report in-

vestigating allegations against

Bransfield quotes one priest-sec-

retary who was allegedly ha-

rassed as saying he was in semi-

nary when the bishop first asked

him to remove his shirt.

“He stated that he did so out of

fear. ‘Your life is at the will and

pleasure of the bishop when

you’re in seminary,’ ” the man told

the lay investigators last year,

according to the report, which

The Post obtained.

The guide for seminarians by the

United States Conference of Catho-

lic Bishops encourages submissive-

ness.

“Seminaries should articulate

that priestly obedience begins

with humble and willing coopera-

tion in seminary life, docility to

direction and wholehearted com-

pliance with the seminary’s pol-

icies,” it says.

When seminarians do speak

up, the men said church authori-

ties often do nothing.

They “say the right things, how

we encourage honesty and open-

ness, but deep down it’s clear they

want to move on from [issues] as

fast as possible,” said Mike Kelsey,

who was a seminarian in the D.C.

Archdiocese from last summer

until January when students were

openly upset that more hadn’t

been done to learn what the past

two archbishops — McCarrick

and Donald Wuerl — did and

knew regarding sexual miscon-

duct.

Kelsey and other seminarians

and priests interviewed for this

article agreed that the problem

lies in how the vows are interpret-

ed and lived out within the

church.

“I don’t think obedience is

bad,” Kelsey said, noting that cor-

porations also suffer from similar

transparency problems. “But it’s

also not something I’m signing up

for if the hierarchy behaves in this

way.... I think the church is

deeply corrupt and broken.”

Questions about how sexual

misconduct in seminary is han-

dled are considered so pressing

that the University of Notre Dame

last month released a first-of-its-

kind study of 1,500 seminarians on

the topic. About 3,500 U.S. post-

college men — who make up the

region who spoke on the condi-

tion of anonymity because he

fears dismissal.

Some said the expanding of a

more aggressive Catholic media in

the past couple of years has em-

boldened Catholics, including sem-

inarians, to challenge the hierarchy.

A power imbalance

Even as the scandals have

spurred some to speak out, church

culture and theology dissuade

more from raising their voices.

In the Catholic Church, bish-

ops are kings of their dioceses,

and priests swear an oath of loyal-

ty to them. Seminarians’ pursuit

of the priesthood rests completely

with their superiors — the bishop

in particular. There is no appeal

or required explanation if one is

deemed not to be priest material.

Some seminarians described hav-

ing their spiritual fitness for semi-

nary scrutinized if they raised too

report what he had witnessed

regardless of the consequences.

“My conscience bothered me. If

it meant being thrown out, so be

it,” said Parisi, now 45, who joined

the seminary in 2018 after 25

years as a member of a Catholic

religious order, caring for the sick

and dying.

In his Aug. 15 resignation let-

ter, Parisi urged other seminari-

ans to go to state officials or

journalists if they have similar

complaints.

Parisi said he thought he knew

the church well when he entered

seminary, but he has since come

to understand why so few raise

their voices about misconduct.

Living with his parents and

unemployed, Parisi says he has

received hate mail and that

priests in his hometown won’t

acknowledge him. His faith in the

institution has been “shattered,”

he said. “That’s what you get for

exposing the truth.”

In West Virginia, more than

half a dozen priests and former

seminarians were the key whistle-

blowers in the recent fall of Brans-

field, a well-connected fundraiser

and donator in the U.S. church.

DeGeorge is one of two seminari-

ans who have gone public with

allegations that Bransfield sexu-

ally mistreated them and have

sued. The second one, who has

not been named, said he was

assaulted.

Several current and former

clergy members spoke out begin-

ning last summer about their

treatment by defrocked cardinal

Theodore McCarrick, some by

name and others anonymously.

The Washington Post has re-

ceived more calls from Catholic

seminarians and clergy members

with tips and concerns in the past

year than in the previous decade.

“I’ve never had conversations

in all the previous years like the

ones I’ve had in the past year.

People feel they can finally talk

about things,” among themselves,

said a seminarian in the D.C.

left seminary last year.
Bransfield has denied allega-
tions of sexual misconduct.
The new pushback, according
to experts and the men them-
selves, is due to what many Catho-
lics view as the Catholic Church’s
unwillingness to respond frankly
and transparently to recently re-
vealed cases of sexual mistreat-
ment of seminarians and priests.
That, and the #MeToo moment, in
which Americans have shown
new willingness to speak out
against adult sexual abuse and
harassment.
In addition to West Virginia,
young men wrestling with scan-
dals in Buffalo and Washington,
D.C., among other places, have
also weighed expectations of obe-
dience against their desire for
more accountability and have
chosen to speak out.
Stephen Parisi, dean of his class
of seminarians in the Buffalo Dio-
cese, and Matthew Bojanowski,
who was academic chairman of
the class, made national news
recently after alleging that they
were bullied by superiors and
grilled by their academic dean
under police-like interrogation
after going public with sexual
harassment complaints about
those up the chain of command.
Parisi and another classmate
had gone to seminary officials
about a recent party in a parish
rectory. At the party in April, the
men said, priests were directing
obscene comments to the semi-
narians, discussing graphic pho-
tos and joking about professors
allegedly swapping A’s for sex.
Not long after the men spoke
up, the text from Parisi’s fellow
seminarian arrived.
“I just wanted to be sure that
you guys are protected and are
watching your backs,” the semi-
narian’s text said. Authorities are
“fishing to figure out who the
nark [sic] is.”
Parisi said he felt compelled to

SEMINARY FROM B1

RELIGION

Some seminarians are

shunned for speaking out

FRANK FRANKLIN II/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo speaks during a news conference in 2018 in Cheektowaga, N.Y. Malone issued a statement that

seminarians who spoke out “are to be lauded for coming forward.” He is accused of mishandling sexual abuse and misconduct cases.

I usually
instinctively shy
away from mixing
religion with
politics or policy,
or my personal
life with my professional life. I
don’t like it when these worlds
collide, but climate change — a
central theme of my work for
over two decades — and Jewish
prayer are suddenly occupying
the same space in my mind.
A central part of the liturgy of
the Jewish High Holidays — the
New Year (Rosh Hashanah) and
its companion holiday, the Day of
Atonement (Yom Kippur) —
contains a phrase that is a
declaration and a statement of
hope: “Repentance, prayer and
charity will lessen the severity of
the decree.” It’s always struck me
that, in the season when Jews
pray for a “clean slate,” we
declare that we acknowledge our
actions can reduce only the
severity of the decree, not
eliminate it; we are essentially
plea bargaining with God and
pledging to do community
service.
The “severity of the decree”
has a particular resonance in the

climate arena and is the proper,

though unfortunate, frame for

any discussion on climate

change mitigation.

We have a small sliver of a

chance, given the small crack of a

window left open and the

absolutely expansive chasm

between us and success, to avert

most of the severity of the decree

of a warming planet. Make no

mistake, some of the warming is

already baked in, some of the

decree is already upon us, and

further severe consequences are

likely no matter what we do. But

the gates are not yet closed. If we

do not act dramatically and in

proportion to the enormous

challenge we face, the

consequences will continue to

worsen; the decree will become

increasingly severe.

Climate scientists have given

us convenient hash marks on the

global thermometer: a warming

of 1.5 degrees Celsius brings

some damage, a warming of

2 degrees brings more. If we

focus only on 1.5 or 2 degrees, it’s

a lose-lose proposition, as our

odds of holding there are not

zero but painfully low. Anyone

who tells you otherwise is a

Pollyanna. But 2.5 degrees? A

worse outcome. Four degrees?

Way worse! The severity of those

decrees are of biblical

proportions.

Will repentance, prayer and

charity work? God, no. But, if

“repentance” means assuming

personal responsibility for your

own carbon footprint and taking

actions to reduce it, such as

buying new home insulation,

getting new energy-efficient

appliances, driving less and

driving cars that produce less

emissions, then repent. If

“prayer” means imploring higher

authorities to act beneficently,

such as telling your elected

leaders — at all levels of

government — to pledge to work

toward net-zero carbon

emissions by 2050, with major

action starting immediately, then

pray. If “charity” means not just

donating to nongovernmental

organizations that work toward

reducing carbon (there are many

deserving ones!) but also being

willing to pay a little more for

zero carbon energy, then give.

Yes, of course, there are many

opportunities for economic

growth and job creation from

new technologies, but, no, clean

energy is not without cost and

not always cheaper than fossil.

Is that it? Buy a new air

conditioning unit, send an email

to your congressman and donate

to the Natural Resources Defense

Council, and you’re absolved?

Nope. One of the more famous

elements of modern Jewish

thought is the concept of “tikkun

olam,” or repairing the world.

The concept usually refers to acts

of justice, loving, kindness and

righteousness. In the context of

climate change, “world repair”

becomes quite a bit more literal.

Tikkun olam is never a one-off

but rather a long process of

continuous, concerted,

intentional action. If we are to

repair our world, we need

shepherds and flocks — leaders

who will galvanize action, and

prophets and adherents —

scientists with new research and

development, and entrepreneurs

with new businesses based on

that research and development.

We need commandments and

judges along with reward and

punishment: enforceable new

laws that penalize carbon

emissions and provide incentives

for reducing them. We need

temples: massive new

infrastructure projects that we

can be proud of and that

symbolize our new communal

and national determination. We

also need practices and ritual:

new ways of going about our

daily lives that reflect a

responsibility to reduce carbon.

To literally repair the world, and

lessen the severity of the decree,

we must use all our strength and

all our hearts.

[email protected]

Michael Leifman is the founder of

Tenley Consulting, a D.C.-based

consulting firm focused on clean

energy and technological innovation,

and the co-host of M4Edge, a podcast

on start-ups that have the potential to

change how the economy functions.

He also serves as cantor for some of

the High Holiday services at Adas

Israel Congregation in Washington.

When it comes to climate change, this Jewish liturgy takes on a new meaning

PETER SUMMERS/GETTY IMAGES

Police officers on Thursday surround a climate change activist who

tried to spray red dye on the Treasury building in London.

Perspective

MICHAEL
LEIFMAN

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