It may take a public mea culpa by the Roman Catholic Church and the resignation of one controversial cardinal for the church to overcome the stigma of sex abuse allegations, public relations experts said Tuesday.
"They've handled it terribly. I think what they're having to do is mop up years of truly bad decisions. Didn't they realize it would surface?" said Clarence Jones, a Tampa, Fla.-based media relations consultant. "My first advice is they need to open up all the books. This damage will be out there for a generation. The only way you can stop that kind of damage is to say, 'We're so concerned, we're going to show you everything, all the allegations, all the investigations, all the settlements.'"
The meeting between American cardinals and Pope John Paul II in Rome has brought about the pope's strongest denouncement so far of child sex abuse by priests. Public relations experts said the two-day meeting that began yesterday is the church's first step toward restoring trust.
"When you stand up and take responsibility the story drops," said Jack Felton, president of the Institute for Public Relations Research and Education in Gainesville, Fla. and a former public relations executive for U.S. Steel. "The Catholic Church, until this most recent meeting with the pope calling the cardinals, hasn't done this."
Public relations crises often necessitate the firing of leaders blamed for the problem, said Jones, author of "Winning with the News Media," a public relations guide for people and corporations suddenly thrust into the spotlight.
No Catholic leader has been criticized more than Boston Cardinal Bernard Law. Law acknowledged he transferred priests who admitted to sexually abusing children from parish to parish. So far, Law has refused to step down, but there has been speculation he will be urged to do so at the Vatican meeting.
"I think if they're smart, they'll satisfy this cultural need for a sacrificial lamb," Jones said.
Pittsburgh public relations executive David Kosick said the Catholic Church has underestimated the crisis so far.
"Was it mishandled⢠Yes, because they didn't understand the seriousness of it," said Kosick, vice president for public relations at Marc USA in Pittsburgh. "Clearly the situation in Boston was badly, badly handled, and Law may have to pay the price."
In the wake of the scandal in Boston, Catholic dioceses nationwide are reviewing allegations of child abuse made against priests with sometimes startling results.
In the Philadelphia Archdiocese, church leaders have revealed that 35 priests have been accused of sexually abusing about 50 children since 1950. The Greensburg Diocese said Monday it has removed from the priesthood “for life” one of three active priests on leave because of allegations of child sexual abuse. The diocese also has asked two retired priests who have been accused of molesting children to refrain from ministry. In Pittsburgh, Bishop Donald Wuerl has said he removed “several” priests from ministry because of allegations of child molestation but has declined to be more specific.
New details about the nationwide scandal unfold almost every day, which leads to more intense media coverage and the spread of rumors than if the church had made a complete disclosure about the extent of the problem, the experts said.
"Locally and nationally, the implication is the church has been trying to cover it up. They have to get out of that mode," Kosick said.
The pope yesterday addressed the cardinals in a speech that showed the Catholic Church now comprehends the gravity of the crisis and plans to respond in a unified way.
"The abuse which caused this crisis is by every standard wrong and rightly considered a crime by society; it is also an appalling sin in the eyes of God. To the victims and their families, wherever they may be, I express my profound sense of solidarity and concern," a statement from the pope read.
There are examples of crisis management the church would have been wise to emulate, Jones and Felton said.
Johnson & Johnson was faced with a crisis in 1982 when seven people died in Chicago and authorities determined each had ingested Tylenol laced with cyanide. News of product tampering spread quickly and caused nationwide panic. But Jones called the company's reaction the most successful handling of a crisis in the 20th century. The company did a recall of Tylenol capsules, which were more susceptible to tampering. It also had its president speak directly to the press and cooperate with criminal investigators.
"They said, 'We're in charge of it, we're investigating it,'" Felton said.
When Tylenol went back on the market, it was boxed in tamper-resistant packaging.
"The thing that happened with Tylenol, when it went back on the market, they had larger and bigger sales than ever," Felton said. "That's the value of being honorable and truthful, and that's what we expect from the Catholic Church."
