The nation’s Catholic Bishops are meeting here in Atlanta this week. At their first session Wednesday, they heard a review board report that allegations of child sex abuse by clergy have dropped sharply since the bishops adopted a child protection charter ten years ago.
The review board, made up of lay people, sound what it called “striking improvement” in the church’s response and in the treatment of victims in the past decade. However, board chairman Al Notzon, III told the bishops that much work still needs to be done.
“Many of the faithful believe that sexual abuse by clergy is occurring at high level, and is still being covered up by bishops. This suggests a trust problem,” said Notzon.
The review board outlined several recommendations, including independent audits down to the parish level, to ensure child protection policies are being followed.
Despite these talks, the review board findings received bad reviews from protesters outside of the Hytt Regency in Atlanta, where the bishops are meeting.
Some protestors spoke.
“My name is Barbara Blaine…I was sexually abused by a priest growing up in Toledo, Ohio in the late 60s and early 70s,” said one protestor.
Barbara Blaine is now the President of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. As she stood amid childhood photos of alleged victims, Blaine called the review board report inadequate and said church leaders have not done enough to remove abusive priests and report them to the civil authorities.
“They still fail to put the names of the predators on websites,” said Blaine, “Only about two dozen dioceses have done this. They still have not opened up all their records to the police. So, they turn over only the bare minimum.”
Meanwhile, the review board said the church’s approach to victims has shifted from a legal one to a response of pastoral care. Still, the New York Times reported recently that church attorneys have now adopted an aggressive legal approach to the victims’ group SNAP, in some Missouri cases.
Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of Joliet, Illinois chairs the bishops’ committee on the Protection of Children and Young People. He said that in some cases, pastoral care must await the outcome of legal battles.
“And it’s impossible to respond to a lawsuit in a pastoral way. And sometimes we’re in that circumstance not even allowed to have access to the individual who is making the accusation, as much as we would like to. And we understand that.”
But the review board warned, if bishops don’t also follow the prevention and response policies they adopted a decade ago, they will lose the fight to regain the trust of many Catholics.
For More Information:
A Ten-Year Progress Report, June 2012 from the National Review Board, presented to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, June 13, 2012 (full text, PDF)
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