BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
POPE FRANCIS said that victim-survivors of clerical abuse must be given “a welcome and an open door when they appeal to the local church in their country.”
There is a great need for centers of healing for victims of child sexual abuse and exploitation in every diocese. Most clerics and even civil society live in “the dark cloud of unknowing” about the extent of child abuse in the church. Pope Francis called for such in his Moto Proprio Vos Estis Lux Mundi where he said local churches should have national level child abuse survivor centers for help. Cardinal O’Malley said at a press interview that Pope Francis wants the Commission to take on the responsibility “to supervise, promote, encourage and report back to him on the progress that is made in fulfilling the mandates in Vos Estis.”
Jesus of Nazareth, who is at the heart of our faith, made children and their rights, dignity and protection the most important values in the Kingdom (Matthew 18:1-7). He said, “Whoever welcomes one such child as this welcomes me.” If a person were to choose to protect the clerical child sex abuser instead of the child victim/survivor, that person would, in fact, be rejecting Jesus himself.
We need more courageous bishops who do not tolerate the cover-up of clerical abuse of children and realize that this denial of the truth and protecting the priests, while ignoring the child victims, is a crime in itself? Pope Francis said to us on 17 September 2015 at the conclusion of the International Symposium on Exploited Children and Women in Rome, where I was a participant, with other representatives from 42 nations, “that the CHURCH, THEREFORE, CANNOT REMAIN SILENT and the ECCLESIAL INSTITUTIONS CANNOT CLOSE THEIR EYES in front of this sad phenomenon of children (being sexually exploited).
Church law has greatly changed. Bishops are now held responsible for reporting child abuse by clerics to their superiors and to the civil authorities. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued a new guidebook for bishops on how to report abuse.
The new guide book says: “Even in cases where there is no explicit legal obligation to do so, the ecclesiastical authorities should make a report to the competent civil authorities if this is considered necessary to protect the person involved or other minors from the danger of further criminal acts.” This guidebook is easily available on Vatican.va. Please read this and as we serve Christ together in protecting children, remember the important declaration when Jesus called for child abusers to be held accountable when he said in Matthew 18:6-7, “Anyone who should cause any one child to lose faith in me, it is better that that person have a millstone tied around his neck and he be drowned in the deep sea.” The abusers of children must be held accountable. This is our common duty as protectors of children and believers and followers of Jesus of Nazareth. (preda.org)/PN
