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Church
continues secrecy
The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops voted
246-7 with six abstentions to adopt revisions
to their sex abuse policy Wednesday.
The new policy, which will most likely become
church law after a final review, states
that priests should be removed from public
ministry of any kind after even one act
of sexual abuse toward a child.
Sexually abused victims criticize the new
policy because it gives priests increased
protection and privacy during church investigations
of abuse claims and because it stresses
that bishops, not lay people in the church,
have the authority to oversee clergy.
Critics of the new policy, including the
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priest
also worry that it allows too much discretion
to church officials on whether to report
abuse claims to state authorities. The policy
supplies no measures to be taken when the
policy is not followed.
The revisions to the policy adopted by the
nation’s Roman Catholic bishops only allow
the church to hide further indiscretions.
To side with its critics, the policy continues
to shelter the predators without protecting
the victims.
The Catholic Church should be doing all
that it can possibly do to appease its parishioners
or it will not be able maintain the level
of trust that it needs to insure the survival
of the church.
While abusive priests do have rights that
deserve protection, the continued and increased
secrecy within the church does nothing to
protect the victims’ rights.
Some bishops are dissatisfied with the policy’s
revisions because it does not allow bishops
the authority to reinstate a priest with
only one offense who has been “rehabilitated.”
The fact that clergy members worry about
this issue proves that the problem has not
been eradicated.
No matter how “rehabilitated” a priest may
supposedly be, if he has committed a single
act of sexual abuse than he has deemed himself
unworthy to hold a position in the church
that would potentially place him in contact
with children. The thought that a bishop
would want to place such a person back into
contact with children, or even back into
a church position is appalling.
The Catholic bishops must focus more on
the victims than the priests. They should
do everything they can to satisfy the people
who have been harmed because of the secrecy
within the institution. Their newly revised
policy does not accomplish that objective.
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