JERSEY CITY (NJ)
Jersey Journal
March 3, 2019
By Rev. Alexander Santora
Late last month, Pope Francis convened an unprecedented meeting of the heads of national conferences of bishops throughout the world and achieved his goal.
“The church has now become increasingly aware of the need not only to curb the gravest cases of abuse by disciplinary measures and civil and canonical processes, but also to decisively confront the phenomenon both inside and outside the church,” Francis said at the summit’s opening. He rejected criticism that identifying abuse more widely is minimizing the church’s culpability.
But some victims of abuse by clergy and other critics of the church’s plan call it insufficient. And the lack of church reform undercuts the church’s determination to move forward.
The pope offered 21 points for consideration by the bishops, curia officials and heads of religious orders, including a small group of nuns. Among the points were to remove perpetrators, prepare a practical handbook, establish protocols to handle accusations against bishops, and establish pastoral care for those injured by abuse so they can move toward recovery.
“To decide that priests and bishops guilty of sexual abuse of minors leave the public ministry” was one of the more urgent points Francis shared.
This is what people wanted to hear. What they did not see is a change in church law to back it up.
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