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PAPAL RESPONSE TO SEX ABUSE INADEQUATE

March 22, 2002

Chicago, Mar. 22, 2002 -- In response to the Pope's statement on Thursday condemning child sex abuse by clergy, the largest grassroots Catholic Church reform organization in the country called for uniform standards in dealing with allegations of child abuse.

Linda Pieczynski, spokesperson for Call To Action and a former assistant state's attorney, said, "The policies in place in the past have failed. We must drastically change the way in which 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."

Rev. Bob Silva, President of the National Federation of Priests' Councils, easily distinguishes the respective roles of law enforcement and church authorities: "Let the police handle the crime, and the church handle the sin."

"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," Pieczynski said. "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."

Sheila Daley, Co-Director of CTA, said, " 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 well being of its children.

"Trust in church leaders will be restored only if the people require their leaders to be accountable to them."

Call To Action is a national organization of 25,000 laity, religious, priests and bishops with its national office in Chicago. It has 40 local chapters. It advocates for reforms in the Catholic Church such as the ordination of women, optional celibacy for priests, more focus on the church's social justice teaching, and consultation with the Catholic people on church decision-making. Their comprehensive web site is at www.cta-usa.org.

Contact: Linda Pieczynski, office 630 655-8783, home 630 323-6924;

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Call To Action
2135 W. Roscoe
Chicago, IL 60618

tel. 773-404-0004 | fax. 773-404-1610 | e-mail. cta@cta-usa.org