ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Agency
October 5, 2018
Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport said Thursday that the Church must discuss its sexual abuse crisis if it is to gain the trust of young people.
During his Oct. 4 speech at the 2018 Synod of Bishops, Caggiano said that the Church must “continue to directly address the issue of the sexual abuse of minors and youth by clerics in many regions of the world.”
“It is a both a crime and a sin that has undermined the confidence and trust that young people must have in the Church’s leaders and the Church as an institution, so that they may again trust their priests and bishops to exercise true spiritual fatherhood, serve as adult figures in their lives, and as authentic mentors of faith.”
The bishop offered his commentary while referring to a section of the synod’s working document, the instrumentum laboris, that directly addressed a decline in trust among young people in social, political, and cultural institutions, including the Church.
An online survey conducted by synod organizers in advance of this month’s meeting of bishops found that less than 20 percent of young respondents believe that their lives can meaningfully impact the public life of their countries.
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