ROME
National Catholic Reporter
by John L Allen Jr on Feb. 13, 2012 NCR Today
ROME — Bishops and other church officials from around the English-speaking world have been meeting in a gathering called “The Anglophone Conference on the Safeguarding of Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults” since 1996, comparing notes and trying to identify best practices in fighting child sexual abuse.
This year’s gathering is taking place in Rome at the Domus Sanctae Martae, the $20 million hotel on Vatican grounds where cardinals stay when they gather to elect a pope.
Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide, Australia, who’s served since 2006 as President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, is in Rome for the event this week. Over the years, Wilson has carved out a reputation as a “healing bishop” on the abuse scandals, and became the first Australian prelate to address the U.S. bishops when he was asked in 2002 to provide advice as the abuse crisis exploded in America.
Like many bishops, however, Wilson’s record has also come in for critical scrutiny. There have been complaints about two cases from his time as a vicar general in an Australian diocese in the 1980s which were allegedly mishandled, though in both instances, Wilson has denied wrongdoing.
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