Cardinal Rigali has hired the nationally known Mary Achilles, as Victims’ Advocate for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Achilles, who has served for the past 10 years as the first-ever Victim Advocate for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, will assist the Archdiocese in enhancing existing services and in finding new ways to reach out to the victims of clergy sexual abuse.
“I am pleased to appoint Ms. Achilles to fill this important role,” Cardinal Rigali said. “She comes to this position with a great deal of experience at the highest levels of state and local government.
“Throughout her entire career she has demonstrated a depth of compassion for those who have been harmed. I am confident that Ms. Achilles will help the Archdiocese to better assist adult survivors of clergy sexual abuse.”
Achilles will review the existing Archdiocesan practices to help ensure an effective and sensitive response to victims of abuse. She will also help build bridges to secular community programs that provide services to sexual assault victims.
However, her first priority will be to foster an environment that encourages disclosure and provides comprehensive, safe, supportive, quality services to victims.
“We have to stand with our victims in their pain,” she said. “Victims are our greatest teachers. They will lead us to healing. In my experience, if people have a support system, some belief system, and the right intervention, they do really well. “We need to build bridges to the secular community on this issue. It doesn’t mean we give up any teachings, tenets, of Catholicism. But there are experts out there — and I think the Cardinal reaching out to me is the first step to building that bridge to the secular community.”
What Achilles brings to the Archdiocese is not only her Catholic faith, but her passion for the rights of victims.
“My role is to help the Church be more effective in its response to victims,” she said. “These are our victims. They are part of us. They went to our schools. They were under our care. They are our future. An assault by a priest is a unique and devastating sexual assault. I still struggle with the language for describing how significant this impact is.”
Achilles is well-versed in the destruction such an assault can cause in the life of a victim. For the past decade, she has been serving as the state’s first full-time advocate for victims of violent crime, appointed to the post in 1995 by then-Gov. Tom Ridge. She worked with victims in the criminal justice system, providing them with assistance and support and notification about their rights to have their input considered in the decision to release offenders. Achilles will work to coordinate the same kind of victim-oriented response system within the Archdiocese.
“The first thing I want to do is establish collaborative working relationships with organizations such as Victim Services Centers that provide services to victims of sexual assault. We want to look at how the Archdiocese can formulate relationships with them to exchange information and knowledge and provide quality services to our victims. They are the experts. They have been doing prevention education and training for years. We need to be sure our curriculum utilizes all of their knowledge.”
Achilles will be reviewing all existing and proposed Archdiocesan policies and recommending ways to make them more sensitive and receptive to victims of sexual assault. “My role is to help the Church in its many facets to be effective in its response to victims,” she said. “Sometimes it’s not just about an individual victim. Sometimes it’s about what you say publicly about the issue.”
Achilles earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from West Chester University in 1978 and a master’s in Public Administration from Temple in 1990. She spent nine years in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office before becoming the Director of Victim Services for the Department of Corrections in 1993.
Well-known in her field, she admits to being surprised and impressed when she was contacted by the Archdiocese in November 2005.
“The Church came to me, which made me feel very good about their commitment,” she said. “When I first met with representatives from the Archdiocese, I did not hold back. I have been a victim advocate and I have some expertise in this area and I am a Catholic. I said, ‘Here is what I have to say to you and I hope it’s helpful.’”Apparently it was. The conversation changed from, “What do you think?’ to “Can you help us?”
Achilles added: “The action of coming to me by Cardinal Rigali said a lot to me about the Cardinal and his commitment to do the right thing.”
Contact Susan Brinkmann at fiat723@aol.com or (215) 965-4615