UNITED STATES
SNAP Australia
Ray Mouton
USA, June 10, 2015
[Ray Mouton is the author of the celebrated novel In God’s House. He is also a co-author of the celebrated report offered to the bishops in 1985 and subsequently ignored by them. This report not only recommended but urged the bishops to take several concrete steps lest they face disastrous consequences in the future. They ignored the report, refused to take any steps and suffered the consequences predicted. Ray Mouton was in the middle of the volcano when it exploded.]
This is the biggest non-story in the history of the clergy child sex abuse scandal.
Read the headline and then read the whole story.
The headline proclaims that Pope Francis has created an abuse tribunal for cases of bishop’s negligence.
First, it should be noted a bishop does not “negligently” cover up heinous crimes committed by priests against innocent children. A bishop’s actions in covering up crimes are “intentional” actions, not “negligent” actions.
The body of the article that explains the headline is inaccurate.
The pope has authorized the formation of a tribunal. No tribunal has been formed.
Much more importantly, the tribunal to be formed has been given no substantive guidelines to be employed in reviewing a case of any bishop or how the case would be brought before the tribunal or what kind of punishment would be authorized by the tribunal.
The formation of the tribunal was a recommendation of the Vatican commission on child protection, the group studying clergy sex abuse.
The man the pope selected to head the commission, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who is the pope’s roommate in the papal apartment when he is in Rome is himself a bishop who has for over ten years refused to divulge the identity of a number of priests in Boston against whom credible abuse complaints were brought, and thus one wonders whether this close friend of the pope should be a bishop in line to receive punitive measures like removal from office.
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.