Victims Call for Universal Norms to Deal With Clergy Sex Abuse

[lemonbeam]

Four victims of clergy sex abuse came from the United States to Rome to call on the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI to “break down the walls of secrecy” and to seek harsher, universal measures in dealing with clergy accused of the sexual abuse of minors.

Included in those rules, they said, should be that any priest or religious who has been found guilty of rape, molestation or abuse of children be removed immediately from the priesthood and that bishops in every country should cooperate with civil authorities and turn over all information they have concerning crimes by priests to police.

The Vatican needs to establish stricter measures that would be put into immediate effect for churches around the world so that “no parish, no community, no boarding school on this planet has to ever be concerned that the priest in their parish … has raped or assaulted a child,” said Peter Isley of the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests.

Isley and three other members of SNAP held an outdoor press event March 25 just a few yards from the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square

Read more here: americancatholic.org/news/report.aspx?id=2389

I listed the reforms the Church has taken to eliminate sexual abuse. Do you think the reforms or enough, or do you think the Church needs to go further?

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=440812

 

[chaunceygardner]

Talk about a Priest shortage! And what about all the Bishops that turned a deaf ear to the problem and let it continue? What do you do about them?

I know this sounds drastic, but perhaps the only way to make it right would be to elect a new Pope, one who has no history involving this problem, and then have that Pope remove any Cardinal, Bishop or Curial official who was involved in perpetuating or covering up abuse. In other words, completely clean house. The wreckage would be spectacular, but it might be the only way to restore trust and faith in the institutional Church.

To right the ship requires leadership that is prepared to make some unprecedented decisions, take swift and decisive action, and make a public act of contrition to the world. I just don’t see Benedict as the person to do that.