BishopAccountability.org
	Where Does The Buck Stop? By Sister Maureen Paul Turlish Voice from the Desert March 21, 2010 http://reform-network.net/?p=3122 In a press release from the Holy See on March 9, 2010, "concerning cases of the sexual abuse of minors in ecclesiastical institutions," Director Fr. Federico Lombardi simply repeats some of the more clichéd responses and predictable excuses to the church's ever widening problems of sexual abuse, particularly that of minor children. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2010/03_04/2010_03_09_VaticanRadio_TextOf.htm The institutional Roman Catholic Church has reacted to the continuing sexual abuse debacle neither rapidly nor decisively, contrary to what Lombardi states. The Vatican has attempted to distance itself from what has happened in country after country, first categorizing it as an "American problem," then as a "homosexual problem." What was done by church leadership in the United States, for example, it was forced to do by the pressure of public opinion after records, files and correspondence were forced into the public venue in 2002 by Judge Constance M. Sweeney, a very brave, grounded and principled Catholic woman in Boston, Massachusetts. The church's response continues to be reactive rather than pro-active while minimizing the systemic and endemic abuse of power and authority which has enabled and exacerbated it on the one hand while covering it up whenever and wherever possible on the other. The "wide-ranging context" is that in countries from the United States, Canada, Australia and Ireland to Austria, the Netherlands and Germany church authorities have repeatedly and consistently disregarded its own moral and Canon laws as well as the existing laws of the countries' in which these horrific crimes against humanity occurred. The church has lost its way. Lombardi does not mention nor does he admit to the well documented widespread cover-up of the sexual abuse of children by bishops and other church officials in many countries like the United States, that makes the church's sexual abuse problems particularly egregious. If church authorities had done the morally right thing initially, one wonders how many children would have escaped being sexually abused by a particular priest? As Patrick Wall, a former priest himself, states: "The Roman Catholic Church has the largest body of knowledge of non-incarcerated sexual offenders in the world." Who, one has to ask, would have more knowledge of the internal machinations of covering up for and protecting sexual predators from public scrutiny than Pope Benedict in his former position as Head of the Holy Office? When are people of good will going to say, enough! When are state legislators going to change the laws so that justice can be pursued for the thousands upon thousands of victims of childhood sexual abuse who have been unable to access let alone obtain justice? In most states and probably in most countries, existing criminal as well as civil laws give more protection to sexual predators and their enablers then they do to victims of childhood sexual abuse by anyone. The problem with statutes of limitation expiring are probably much the same in Germany and other European countries as they have been is in so many jurisdictions in the United States. This is deplorable and should not be the case. The removal of all statutes of limitation in regard to the sexual abuse of children is the single, most effective way to hold predators and enabling institutions accountable before the law. More than that, window legislation allows a set time frame for previously time barred cases of sexual abuse by anyone. It is possible to change the laws in order to give some semblance of justice to those ravaged at so tender an age. What is needed to effect that change, however, is the will to hold all sexual predators of children accountable along with any enabling individuals or institutions. The state of Delaware in the United States is one of a very few states in the U.S. which have removed all criminal and civil statutes of limitation in regard to the sexual abuse of children by anyone. It also legislated a two year civil window for previously time barred cases, again, by anyone. That window closed in July of 2009. In a civil suit, unlike a criminal suit, the burden of proof that any sexual abuse took place is on the plaintiff. The burden is not on the accused individual or institution to prove innocence, at least not in the United States. Every victim of childhood sexual abuse should have a right to the pursuit of justice at the very least! What people seem to forget is that children's rights are human rights, that children's rights are civil rights and that the hierarchy, the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, has violated those children's rights in the most profane of ways, not only by covering up for sexual abusers, mostly priests, but also by enabling the further abuse of untold numbers of children by these particular individuals who were known to be dangerous predators. If Delaware can do it other states and other countries should be able to do it as well and hold sexual predators and any enabling institutions responsible, especially when those institutions choose to ignore their own internal laws. I was privileged to testify before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees in support of the 2007 Child Victims Law in Delaware. No rules and no laws of any religious organization or denomination should be allowed to trump the laws of a civilized society where the protection of children is concerned. Not only should the institutional Roman Catholic Church be held to the highest standard as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, it should be leading by example and showing what can and should be done to protect children from sexual exploitation, from what really is another example of trafficking in individuals for purposes of sexual exploitation, nothing less. By any objective standard this church has grossly violated the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child for decades. Perhaps it is time to formalize those violations as the crimes against humanity they truly are? Contact: maureenpaulturlish@yahoo.com
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