UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
* Pope Francis, a reportedly very hands on manager, apparently selected the members of his advisory sex abuse commission to deal, slowly it seems, with his biggest challenge, the scandal of sexual predatory priests and their unaccountable bishop accomplices.
* The pope has been facing for some time building governmental pressure in Australia. He now faces it in the UK as well (as reported here, [Mirror] and here, [BBC News]), and will probably face it in the USA soon enough. Francis selected two well respected priest abuse survivors, Ireland’s Marie Collins and the UK’s Peter Saunders, as commission members. After their initial commission meeting recently, these two survivors both reportedly stated that, in their view, the Vatican has a year or two at most to implement child protection policies with teeth, otherwise they will leave, that is, they would resign from the commission.
* Why wait, Marie Collins and Peter Saunders? They should consider seriously resigning now. Their empty public resignation threats after two years clearly suggest they have seen enough already. They must have serious reservations about the commission, which has done so little now after two years into Pope Francis’ papacy. Francis and his commission staff have generally stalled for two years until now, intentionally, it seems. They now will have two more years to “study” — likely then a full four years to change nothing of substance. Meanwhile, Pope Francis continues to honor disgraced Cardinals, including Law, Rigali and Danneels, who have poor records on dealing with priest sexual abuse. Have Marie Collins and Peter Saunders failed to notice this?
* Marie Collins had already waited a year, after her initial commission appointment more than a year ago, for the first full commission meeting. Peter Saunders has acknowledged the advocacy leadership of the international abuse survivor group, SNAP, and knows that SNAP’s leader had serious reservations about the pope’s commission even befor the poor commission start. Both Marie Collins and Peter Saunders must know well what a really independent commission looks like, having seen several in Ireland and watched close up the recent struggle to establish the new independent UK commission. They both must also be well aware by now that the Vatican’s commission is far from independent, which is essential for an effective commission.
* Pope Francis will probably retire in two years at 80 years old, having by then the all important 2016 US presidential elections behind him. His biggest fear, as best I can tell, has to be if either President Obama or, after 2016, another Democratic US President, Hillary Clinton, were to set up an Australian type institutional child sex abuse commission in the USA. Please see “Catholic Right Still Tied to Big-Money Republicans“, here, [Church and State]. Pope Francis’ new “go slow study commission” now gives him considerable ‘cover’ until after these very important US elections, with his likely hoped for new “allies”, Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz.
* The pope’s commission staff, presumably under disgraced Boston Cardinal Law’s former canon lawyer, Fr. Robert Oliver, has reportedly split up the sex abuse commission’s subject matter assignments, which permits the staff to “cherrypick” assignments and assign “study group members”, etc. Incidentally, it is unlikely that Marie Collins, then a commission member, had any real say on Fr. Oliver’s appointment. The commission reportedly will now meet as a group only four times in the next two years, it appears. That is clearly inadequate to get real results, sooner rather than later, in my view in light of my extensive professional experience.
* I am confident that both Marie Collins and Peter Saunders, very brave survivors, are trying their best, but from my professional perspective, they both seem to be being exploited. They would have more impact, it appears to me, if they resigned now. They are giving the commission by their presence a legitimacy the commission has not earned on its merits, and likely as currently structured never will earn. This can have serious negative repercussions for other abuse survivors worldwide, including quite desperate ones in bankrupt USA dioceses, especially Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Hopefully, other survivors are giving Marie Collins and Peter Saunders their input directly. A lot is at stake for all of them with this commission.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.