LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet
February 22, 2018
By Christopher Lamb
The Church has to change a “deep-seated culture” that resists transparency and accountability when dealing with clerical sexual abuse, according to one of the new members of Pope Francis’ child protection body.
Sister Jane Bertelsen, named last week to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, told The Tablet that this culture has been around for centuries and that the Pope had made attempts to change it.
“We have to restore credibility. Trust has been broken. And we have got to keep trying to restore that credibility, with truth-seeking, compassionate listening and in whatever way we can,” she said.
But she emphasised that this could could not be left to the Catholic hierarchy. She said restoring the Church’s credibility over handling the abuse scandal requires collective involvement from the laity.
The British religious sister has long experience of working in child protection and helped draw up guidelines in England and Wales following Lord Nolan’s 2001 report into the church’s handling of abuse. These are widely considered to be one of the most robust set of church safeguarding rules in the Catholic world.
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