NEBRASKA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on June 18, 2012
A Catholic official is promising to visit Lincoln Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz and push him to comply with the church’s national abuse policy, which Bruskewitz has “consistently broken for a decade,” a victims group says.
Al Notzon, who heads a church panel overseeing the church hierarchy’s abuse crisis, publicly pledged to personally visit the Lincoln diocese and try to make sure that local church officials obey the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children, adopted in 2002. He made the comments last week at the bishops’ summer meeting in Atlanta.
“We’re grateful for this promised effort, but doubt it will succeed,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director for a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “Bruskewitz and his staff have been flouting this allegedly binding policy for a decade. We suspect he won’t quit now.”
Bruskewitz has been one of the biggest opponents of the bishops’ abuse procedures (colloquially referred to as the “Dallas Charter). He has publicly admonished the USCCB for allegedly forcing bishops to honor it – something Bruskewitz believes is not in their power to do. He has also repeatedly balked at allowing church-hired consultants into his diocese to “audit” their systems, policies and practices.
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