WASHINGTON
National Catholic Reporter
Dan Morris-Young | Jun. 6, 2016
An open letter in the form of an online petition asks Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain to address what it charges is the archdiocese’s “incomplete response” to the “clergy abuse crisis.”
Posted late Sunday, June 5, the petition acknowledges the archbishop’s “deep concern for abuse victims” and “willingness to extend pastoral care to them,” but claims “more is needed if we are to truly protect our youth, heal the wounds caused by this horrific evil, and address the continued alienation of Catholics from their Church.”
The letter specifically asks:
* For the public release of “all files, memoranda, settlements and communications related to credible claims of abuse by all clergy and religious who have ministered in this archdiocese or will do so in the future”;
* For the empowerment of “a reconstituted Review Board” that would have “broad, independent access to all Church files concerning clergy abuse of minors,” and the “authority to investigate and make recommendations as to policy and discipline for all matters relating to such abuse in the Archdiocese — past, present and future”;
* That the majority of a new Review Board be “selected by the laity and all of its recommendations made public unless the Archbishop explains in writing to the Catholic community the reasons for not doing so.”
The demands are all “consistent with the Dallas Charter,” the narrative stated, alluding to the U.S. bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People issued following the bishops’ historic 2002 gathering in Dallas to deal with explosive clerical abuse revelations. The document was revised in 2011.
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