Portland, ME -
It was the 1960s and the sounds of silence were deafening. Few believed Sister Sally Butler when she blew the whistle on priests in her Brooklyn parish who were sexually abusing little boys. Many efforts were made to silence her because, well, far too many people believed that priests could do no wrong back in 1968.
This was well before The Boston Globe’s 2002 “Spotlight” series exposing widespread sexual abuse and cover-ups by priests in Greater Boston. Once that heinous betrayal was revealed by the Globe, and put on steroids with the release of the Oscar-winning 2015 movie Spotlight, countless thousands of cases emerged worldwide. Of course, the Church made every effort to lie, deny, and conceal.
Whistle-blowers - especially women - are often discounted, discredited, and denigrated by male establishment figures, the Church hierarchy in this case. So it was with Sister Sally who was later part of a group called Catholic Whistleblowers. She joined others in writing letters to numerous dioceses and two popes over the years reporting cases of sexual assault and abuse and heard exactly … nothing! No response from any of these holy cowards, some of whom no doubt were deep in cover-up mode.
Very few priests paid the price for sexually abusing little boys and girls in 1960s’ Brooklyn - or anywhere. The world was not ready to deal with it, and the little boys at the heart of Sister Sally’s whistle-blowing were poor and of color. They stood little chance of being heard and believed.
Nonetheless, Sister Sally’s work raised awareness of the issue and demonstrated that it is possible for brave, decent people to speak truth to power. Sister Sally passed away in October. Let her legacy encourage more people to blow the whistle on clergy who betray the public's trust and faith.
Image courtesy of The New York Times.