Warnings to the Church hierarchy

Over the next two decades, Fitzgerald wrote regularly to bishops in the United States and to Vatican officials, including the pope, of his opinion that many sexual abusers in the priesthood could not be cured and should be laicized immediately.^[4]

For example, in a 1952 letter to Bishop Robert Dwyer of the Diocese of Reno, Nevada, Fitzgerald wrote:

I myself would be inclined to favor laicization for any priest, upon objective evidence, for tampering with the virtue of the young, my argument being, from this point onward the charity to the Mystical Body should take precedence over charity to the individual, [...] Moreover, in practice, real conversions will be found to be extremely rare [...] Hence, leaving them on duty or wandering from diocese to diocese is contributing to scandal or at least to the approximate danger of scandal.^[5]

In 1957 Fitzgerald wrote to Matthew Francis Brady, the Bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire:

We are amazed to find how often a man who would be behind bars if he were not a priest is entrusted with the cura animarum.^[4][6]

In 1962, Fitzgerald prepared a report at the request of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (then known as the Holy Office) in which he discussed the various types of sexual problems of priests, including sexual abuse of minors.

In April 1962, Fitzgerald wrote a five-page response to a query from the Vatican's Congregation of the Holy Office "the tremendous problem presented by the priest who through lack of priestly self-discipline has become a problem to Mother Church." One of his recommendations was for "a more distinct teaching in the last years of the seminary of the heavy penalty involved in tampering with the innocence (or even non-innocence) of little ones." Regarding priests who have "fallen into repeated sins ... and most especially the abuse of children, we feel strongly that such unfortunate priests should be given the alternative of a retired life within the protection of monastery walls or complete laicization."^[7]

In August of the following year, he met with newly elected Pope Paul VI to inform him about his work and problems he perceived in the priesthood. His follow-up letter contained this assessment:

Personally I am not sanguine of the return of priests to active duty who have been addicted to abnormal practices, especially sins with the young. However, the needs of the church must be taken into consideration and an activation of priests who have seemingly recovered in this field may be considered but is only recommended where careful guidance and supervision is possible. Where there is indication of incorrigibility, because of the tremendous scandal given, I would most earnestly recommend total laicization.^[7]

Fitzgerald's papers were unsealed by a judge in New Mexico in 2007 and were authenticated in depositions with Fitzgerald's successors, said Helen Zukin, a lawyer with Kiesel, Boucher & Larson, a firm in Los Angeles.^[8]

Dispute over treatment modalities

Despite the fact that he opposed secular treatment modalities — psychiatry and psychology — his followers espoused them and even trained in the treatment of sexual disorders. As a result, the Servants of the Paraclete center in Jemez Springs became the first facility in the world specifically treating sexual disorders of clergy.

Ouster

According to Father Joseph McNamara who succeeded Fitzgerald as Servant General, Fitzgerald was eventually forced from leadership by a combination of factors, not least of which was a growing disagreement^{[clarification needed]} with the bishop and other members of the congregation over the direction of the Paracletes. According to McNamara, Fitzgerald "never again resided at Via Coeli Monastery, nor did he ever regain the power he had once had."^[9]

As Fitzgerald lost control, medical and psychological professionals began working at the center although he continued to resist these changes until his death in 1969. These experts said some abusers could return to ministry. The center was closed in the 1990s as the result of lawsuits over priests who had molested children while staying at Jemez Springs or after being treated at the facility.^[5]

Sexual abuse cases in Australia

Following the release of the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia, it was revealed that the Catholic Church in Australia had sent abusive priests and brothers for treatment with the Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico.

In December 1989, Ballarat priest Gerald Ridsdale was sent to the facility by his bishop, Ronald Mulkearns. The Director of Villa Louis Martin, Peter Lechner, wrote to Ridsdale on 3 October 1989, explaining the nature of the programme and inviting him to participate, explaining that the programme was both psychological and spiritual. In the first half of 1990, Mulkearns received at least five reports from the Villa Louis Martin facility regarding Ridsdale's treatment. Lechner wrote to Mulkearns and asked that he either destroy the reports or return them to him after he finished reading them.

Following Ridsdale's treatment, Lechner wrote to Mulkearns with a five point aftercare plan. Point three stipulated that 'He (Ridsdale) will not engage in any ministry to minors and will not otherwise be in the company of minors unless accompanied by an adult.' ^[10]

On 27 May 1993, three years after he returned to Australia, Ridsdale pleaded guilty to charges of child sexual abuse and was sentenced to imprisonment. He remains in Ararat prison today.^[11][12] On 4 October 1996, Mulkearns wrote to church lawyers Dunhill Madden Butler and informed them he had destroyed a letter from psychiatrist Eric Seal regarding Ridsdale's sexual offending of children.

After decades sexually abusing children in residential institutions in New Zealand and Australia, in 1992 Bernard McGrath was brought to a secret meeting at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney where he met with Brian Lucas, the man responsible with dealing with the Catholic Church's abusive priests. McGrath's religious order, the Hospitaller Order of St John of God, had known about his sexual offending for years, with multiple complaints being ignored or dismissed.^[13]

Assessment

In April 2009, Blase Joseph Cupich then of Rapid City, South Dakota, Chairman of the United States Bishops Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, explained why Father Fitzgerald's advice "went largely unheeded for 50 years": First, "cases of sexually abusive priests were considered to be rare." Second, Father Fitzgerald's, "views, by and large, were considered bizarre with regard to not treating people medically, but only spiritually, and also segregating a whole population with sexual problems on a deserted island." And finally, "There was mounting evidence in the world of psychology that indicated that when medical treatment is given, these people can, in fact, go back to ministry." This was a view which Cupich characterized as one that "the bishops came to regret."^[14]

Helen Zukin, a lawyer representing some of the plaintiffs against the Church, challenged this explanation, asserting that psychiatrists who worked at the Servants of the Paraclete's centers have stated in legal depositions that they had rarely recommended returning sexually abusive priests to ministry, and only if the priests were under strict supervision in settings where they were not working with children.^[14]