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Top U.S. bishop after Vatican sex abuse summit: attack crisis with “unyielding vigilance”

By Kim Chatelain
Times-Picayune
February 25, 2019

https://bit.ly/2SrZGcy

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, waits for the arrival of Pope Francis for the third day of a Vatican's conference on dealing with sex abuse by priests, at the Vatican, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019.

Promising “unyielding vigilance” in attacking clergy abuse, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wrapped an unprecedented Vatican summit by vowing to intensify a 2002 charter designed to create a safe environment for children in the church.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, who heads the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, released his statement Sunday (Feb. 24) at the end of a four-day meeting of church hierarchy in Rome to discuss sexual abuse and child protection.

At a meeting in Dallas in 2002, the U.S. bishops’ conference established what is formally called the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” which is also known as the Dallas Charter. Among other things, it requires dioceses to set up safe environment programs that include background checks and training for anyone who has contact with minors at any Catholic church or school event. The document has been updated several times since its adoption.

Some church leaders have said the number of sex abuse complaints has dropped dramatically since the charter was put in place. However, recent reports of child molestation by clergy members, most notably a shocking report by a Pennsylvania grand jury last year, brought the issue into public view again and prompted Pope Francis to stage the summit.

The Vatican gathering brought together nearly 200 Catholic leaders, 114 of whom are bishops and cardinals from around the world. During meetings that ended Sunday, discussions were held on issues including transparency, responsibility and accountability. Participants also heard testimonies from sex abuse victims.

“We owe survivors an unyielding vigilance that we may never fail them again,” DiNardo said in his statement issued at the end of the summit. “How then to bind the wounds? Intensify the Dallas Charter.”

New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond, who did not attend the Vatican summit, said Monday he believes the summit was helpful as a world event for the Catholic church, and that he supports DiNardo’s efforts to bolster the charter.

“The charter has been revised twice, and I think this is an opportunity to address it again to see if there are ways in which to make it even stronger,” Aymond said. “While the United States accomplishes much of what the summit asks, we must always re-evaluate to become more thorough and effective.”

DiNardo noted that the summit featured a range of presenters who spoke about a code of conduct for bishops, the need to establish specific protocols for handling accusations against bishops, user-friendly reporting mechanisms and the role transparency plays in the healing process. Achieving the goals will require the active involvement and collaboration of the laity, he said.

“These have been challenging, fruitful days,” DiNardo said in his statement. “The witness of survivors revealed for us, again, the deep wound in the Body of Christ. Listening to their testimonies transforms your heart. I saw that in the faces of my brother bishops.”

Speaking on the final day of the summit, Pope Francis called for an “all-out battle" against child abuse and labeled clergy and other Catholics who abuse children “tools of Satan.” However, critics said the pontiff offered no definitive steps to combat the crisis, which has roots in Louisiana.

“The summit was one more in a long string of disappointments from the hierarchy which increasingly talks a good game but produces nearly no change,” David Clohessy, former national director of the advocacy group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune on Monday.

“Until dozens of heads roll, reform will remain a dream,” he said.

Clohessy said he has no qualms with intensifying the Dallas Charter, but the church should also focus on enforcing it.

“The charter, vague and weak as it is, is only sporadically followed,” he said. “Despite repeated ‘zero tolerance’ pledges, bishops still don’t consistently suspend credibly accused clerics.”

Referring to the church’s recent decision to defrock former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the highest-ranking church official to date to be expelled from the priesthood for sex abuse, Clohessy said, “Defrocking one 88-year-old, high profile prelate doesn’t come close to really deterring the cover ups that continue.”




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