RALEIGH (NC)
The News and Observer
By Martha Quillin
November 2, 2017
The Catholic Church, which was riddled by sexual abuse scandals starting in the early 2000s, now could teach Hollywood a thing or two about how to protect children, a church leader said Thursday.
Edward Mechmann, director of public policy for the New York Archdiocese, told the Catholic News Agency that the church learned from its experiences that the key to combating abuse is combating the culture that allows it.
“In the area of child protection, the corporate culture is the most important element,” Mechmann said. “In the Church, we have successfully made child protection a key part of our regular course of business and we have made it unequivocally clear that any kind of sexual sin against minors is utterly unacceptable.”
He offered the advice as Hollywood and other industries respond to sexual harassment and assault scandals, including allegations made this week against “House of Cards” actor Kevin Spacey. Spacey is accused of making a sexual advance on Broadway and TV actor Anthony Rapp, who was 14 years old when the incident allegedly occurred 30 years ago. Since the accusations, Spacey has apologized for the encounter.
“We have put into place strong policies that are aimed to prevent any abuse,” Mechmann said. “These policies are taken very seriously by the leadership of the Church (laity and clergy alike) who have all demonstrated repeatedly that they are committed to the program. We have demonstrated over and over again that we are open to receiving complaints, we take all allegations seriously, we vigorously investigate them, and we are firm in correcting any problem,” he said.
More than 4,400 U.S. priests have been accused of abusing children between 1950 and 2002. The most notorious was John Geoghan of Boston, who was accused of molesting about 130 people, mostly young boys, between 1962 and 1995. Despite receiving a letter outlining allegations against Geoghan, Cardinal Bernard Law reassigned the priest to another parish. Geoghan was found guilty of molesting a boy in 2002 and was sentenced to prison. Law resigned his position in the church the same year.
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