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  No Sermon Needed on Church Sex Abuse, Says Bishop

By Dave Dormer
Calgary Sun
March 27, 2010

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2010/03/27/13380626.html

CANADA -- The clerical sex abuse scandal hanging over the Catholic church won't be addressed by Bishop Fred Henry during Palm Sunday services.

Instead, the leader of the Calgary Catholic diocese said he will be focusing his message on preparing for the Easter holiday

"I'm going to speaking about the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and setting up holy week," he said.

"I don't know there's an awful lot we can add, basically none of us has the data to respond."

The Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI have been criticised for the handling of some clerical sex abuse cases that saw police not informed of allegations of sexual misconduct and priests being allowed to return to pastoral duties before completing treatment.

And that's not acceptable, said Henry.

"What we know right now is seemingly you cannot risk a further offence if someone is guilty," he said.

"Zero tolerance must reign and great care and extension of pastoral concern has to go out to any victim."

Lessons learned from similar scandals that rocked the Catholic church in North America in the 1990s should be used as the church moves forward, said Henry.

"What we've experienced here in Canada and the United States, perhaps more acutely than anywhere else in the world is now starting to crop up in other places," he said.

"That seems to be something they're going to have to look at and address.

"What are their protocols, what are their reporting mechanisms, how do they handle victims, how do they handle allegations, the whole reporting thing with civil authority and those sorts of things."

And changes have been made to try and prevent future abuse, said Henry.

"We've done all kinds of psychological testing and screening and put that in place with respect to the reception of seminarians and candidates for the priesthood from the get-go," he said.

"There's been much more concentration on the whole area of human sexuality and the integration of psycho-sexual maturity.

"With respect to those already ordained, we have all kinds of workshops we've presented to them in terms of providing growth and assistance and counselling should any situation warrant it."

Contact: dave.dormer@sunmedia.ca

 
 

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