April 2002 Call to Action News
CTA calls for uniform standards dealing with clergy child abuse
March 21, the day after the pope's only vague statement about child sex abuse by clergy, Call To Action issued its own press statement calling the papal response inadequate, and calling for uniform standards in dealing with allegations of child abuse.
Linda Pieczynski, CTA spokesperson and a former assistant state's attorney, said:
The policies in place in the past have failed. We must drastically change the way the church handles allegations of child abuse. The pope didn't say he was going to hold bishops accountable or make disciplinary responses transparent.
Bishops must not be the ones to investigate these cases. Only experienced child abuse investigators are trained to interview the alleged victims and perpetrators and weed out false allegations. In most states, people who are required by law to report child abuse must contact child abuse reporting agencies when they suspect a child has been harmed, not when they believe that they have ‘probable cause,’ a standard that many dioceses use.
Members of the clergy should report allegations of any kind of child abuse to the local law enforcement authority whenever there is a suspicion that child abuse has taken place. This is the standard to which doctors, nurses, psychologists, teachers and other people who have numerous contacts with children are held. There is no logical reason that clergy should not be held to the same standard.
This would relieve the local church of any potential conflict of interest and prevent the temptation to downplay the seriousness of the offense or cover up the offense due to the fear of scandal or financial liability.
Priests who have been identified as offenders must never be placed in positions where they have access to children. Our children must not be put at risk. While we can forgive the actions by such men, we cannot fail to be vigilant in protecting our most vulnerable church members in the name of forgiveness.
People must demand change
Sheila Daley, CTA Co-director, called on the Catholic people to become proactive:
We know that change in the church has almost always come from the grassroots. Besides the crisis of sexual abuse, the U.S. church is also facing an ever growing priest shortage. When the bishops talk about how to address this problem, they limit themselves to new strategies for promoting vocations because that is the only option the Vatican allows them. They are not allowed to talk about ordaining women or married priests. Most of the bishops seem to value their standing with the Pope more highly than serving the needs of the Catholic community. Clearly, in the handling of sexual abuse cases they valued the image of the church more than the wellbeing of its children.
Trust in church leaders will be restored only if the people require their leaders to be accountable to them.
ACTION ALERT for CTA members
• Organize open discussions of the crisis in your parish. Use Voice of the Faithful in Wellesley, Mass., as a model. www.voiceofthefaithful.org
• Write letters to the editor of your local newpaper. Identify yourself as a CTA member, and call for needed structural reforms in our church and in ordained ministry.
• Media articles and resources about the clergy sex abuse crisis are being posted
nearly every day by CTA staff. Log on to www.cta-usa.org