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	Editorial: Reconciliation for the Diocese Commercial Appeal April 11, 2010 http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/apr/11/editorial-reconciliation-for-the-diocese/ Reconciliation has been a key word in the Catholic Church. Reconciliation has been pivotal in efforts to pull fallen Catholics back into the church. The release to the public of previously sealed legal documents from a sexual abuse case against the Memphis Catholic Diocese offers diocesan officials a first step in reconciling with their parishioners and the community. Even though a judge, at the request of The Commercial Appeal and the Memphis Daily News, had to order the release of the documents, the diocese now has the opportunity to openly talk about sexually predatory priests in the diocese and sincerely discuss efforts put in place to protect children from them. That openness needs to include hearing about the issue from diocesan head Bishop J. Terry Steib, and not just some spokesman. Until that occurs, assurances that policies have been put in place to protect young people from predatory clergy and lay persons ring somewhat hollow. Over two days last week, stories by Commercial Appeal reporter Lawrence Buser, based on the unsealed documents, showed that at least 15 priests have been accused of sexual misconduct over some four decades. The documents also show abusive priests were moved from parish to parish and diocese to diocese to avoid scandal and to protect the priests. What has gotten lost in these face-saving machinations was the protection of children, which the church considers one of its most precious assets. As one plaintiff's attorney pointed out, what has happened in child sexual abuse cases here is a microcosm of a scandal that has struck the church worldwide. Cover-ups of hundreds of clergy child abuse cases have stung the church. Even Pope Benedict XVI has come under criticism for not removing pedophile priests when he was an archbishop in the early 1980s. There are those who argue that, on its face, there was nothing improper about the church handling the pedophile-priest issue internally. But as the world has seen, secrecy and fear of detection breed another kind of abuse that perpetuated the continuation of serious crimes. That's why, in our minds, the scandal is a public policy issue. Sexually preying on children is a felonious crime. Not reporting it to law enforcement authorities is a crime. We as a society do not tolerate such acts in our schools or among pediatric physicians or scout leaders, for example. When allegations of abuse arise, we expect leaders of those organizations to come clean with the facts as soon as possible and the swift removal of the abuser. Those organizations are expected to make sure that procedures are in place to make sure the abuser will never work around children again. It's not unreasonable to expect the same openness and diligence from the Memphis Catholic Diocese. A diocesan spokesman says that diligence has been put in place. As for true openness about the child sexual abuse scandal here, the diocese has a long way to go.
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