SOUTH AFRICA
Daily Maverick
The sexual abuse crisis that rocked the Catholic Church worldwide has been one of the most disillusioning things I have had to face as a Catholic Priest. It is a source of shame, anger and frustration for me and many other faithful Catholics. Abuse can and has happened in many contexts but is amplified when it occurs in the Church, an institution that many trust and seek help and protection from. Even more deplorable is the fact that accountability has not been what it should have. So how, then, do we move forward? By RUSSELL POLLITT.
Since the crisis erupted in the USA in 2001, the Church has put strict protocols in place to prevent such scandalous behaviour recurring. The South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has had a Protocol in place for a number of years which is publicly available on their website. The Bishops in South Africa insist that every parish Church display, for all to see, an independent person’s contact details (a “contact person”) so that accusations of sexual abuse against Church personnel can be reported independently and efficiently. The Protocol insists that allegations of abuse be reported to civil authorities.
While these steps have been welcomed, many people – especially victims of abuse, feel that the Church has not taken full responsibility for what has happened. Some Church leaders stand accused of covering up abuse cases and others, after allegations were made, did not deal with offenders in a decisive manner. Shameful stories emerged of how offenders were moved from place to place when they were accused and so the abuse was perpetuated.
This week Pope Francis took an unprecedented step. He not only apologised and expressed his own “deep pain and suffering” at what happened but admitted that for too long abuse has been “hidden, camouflaged with a complicity that cannot be explained…” He calls this scourge a “crime and grave sin” and says that these “despicable actions” are like a “sacrilegious cult”. He pledged a zero tolerance approach to the abuse of minors by clerics and lay people working in the Church. These are the strongest words that have ever been used by a Pope to address the devastation caused by sex abuse in the Church.
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