UNITED STATES
Bucks County Courier Times
Posted: Tuesday, March 4, 2014
By ROBERT MORRISON
People (or institutions) that live in glass houses should not throw stones. The green glass facade of the United Nations building in New York City came to mind when I read articles regarding recent criticism of the Catholic Church by the UN over the priest child abuse scandal.
In true UN fashion, the report was not only a day late and a dollar short regarding the scandal in terms of ignoring the actions taken by the Church to address the very issues raised by the report, it ignored the lack of action by the UN in correcting its own child sex abuse problems. The report, released the first week of February, accused the Church of protecting itself rather than the victims of the priest sex abuse scandal.
“The Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests,” the report stated. In response, the Vatican rightly stated that the UN ignored its efforts to address the abuse crisis in recent years. In fact, Pope Benedict XVI made zero tolerance the universal law of the Church by mandating that every priest who is involved in the abuse of a child be defrocked with approximately 400 priests dismissed from the priesthood prior to his retirement. The policy further requires that churches follow local laws in reporting abuse to civil authorities. In addition, most dioceses require Catholics involved in youth ministry to undergo criminal background checks and receive training on reporting abuse allegations.
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