Changing the Vaticans Response to Abuse, The New York Times, March 17, 2010

Changing the Vatican’s Response to Abuse

The New York Times
March 17, 2010

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/changing-the-vaticans-response-to-abuse/

Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday at St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
Photo by Andreas Solaro/Agence France-Presse

As the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church continues to unfold, Pope Benedict XVI said he would issue a letter to Irish Catholics on Friday to help “repentance, healing and renewal.”

The pope himself has been embroiled in the case of Peter Hullermann, a German priest who was convicted of molesting children but had been allowed to work in Munich for more than 30 years until his suspension on Monday. The pope, the former Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, had served as head of the archdiocese where the priest worked and was later the cardinal in charge of reviewing sexual abuse cases for the Vatican.

What lessons should have been learned from the church’s handling of the American sexual abuse cases? What questions should be asked of the Vatican and what should it do?

* John L. Allen Jr., The National Catholic Reporter

* Nicholas P. Cafardi, law professor, Duquesne University

* Jim FitzGerald and Nicole Sotelo, Call to Action

* David Clohessy, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

* David Gibson, author, “The Rule of Benedict”