Bishops Get Earful at Vatican Sex Abuse Summit

Priests pray during a Feb. 7 penitential vigil at St. Ignatius Church in Rome to show contrition for clerical sexual abuse. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Though a four-day summit in Rome on the sexual abuse crisis was, in a sense, directed at everyone, its primary audience was composed of approximately 100 bishops and superiors of religious orders from around the world, who face a Vatican-imposed May deadline to submit their anti-abuse policies.

As it turns out, those church potentates got an earful.

First, they were told, if you come from a place where you think sexual abuse of children isn’t a problem, think again. Experts said child abuse occurs at roughly the same high levels in every region of the world, so that if the clerical abuse crisis has not yet exploded someplace, it’s only a matter of time.

Second, the bishops were warned, if you drop the ball on handling abuse charges, be ready to face the music. There seems to be a new determination in the Vatican and across the Catholic world to use the tools of church law to hold bishops accountable.

Those were among the highlights of a Feb. 6-9 symposium titled “Toward Healing and Renewal,” held at Rome’s Jesuit-run Gregorian University, and cosponsored by a variety of Vatican departments.

The warning about the global dimension of the crisis came from American Msgr. Stephen Rossetti, former director of the St. Luke Institute, a facility in Silver Spring, Md., that treats abuser priests.

“Church leaders around the world began by saying, ‘This is only an American problem,’ ” Rossetti said. “Then, as more cases surfaced in other countries, they said, ‘This is an English-speaking problem.’ Then, as the circle of abuse cases widened, they expanded it to: ‘This is a Western problem.’

“Each time, church leaders said, in effect, ‘It doesn’t happen here.’ ”

Rossetti said data show this is a global problem, with no reason to think that the Catholic church in any particular part of the world would be immune.

“If there are people in the church today who are thinking that this is not a problem in their country, I urge them to speak to those who work with children,” Rossetti said. “Contact those who generously run programs for abused children or staff child abuse hotlines. Find out what is being said behind closed doors.” [More]

SOURCE

National Catholic Reporter