CONNECTICUT
The Republican
Clergy sexual abuse survivor Marie Collins heads to Rome in protest over bishop’s appointment before Hartford talk
By Anne-Gerard Flynn | aflynn@repub.com
on April 11, 2015
Clergy sexual abuse survivor Marie Collins, who will be the keynote speaker at the 2015 National Assembly of the Voice of the Faithful in Hartford on April 18, is among the members of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors who are headed to Rome this weekend over Pope Francis’ appointment of a Chilean bishop who has been accused of covering up abuse.
The 17-member commission was formed to hold those in positions of power in the Church accountable for making it a “safe home” for children.
Bishop Juan Barros Madrid has has denied the charges but the Irish born Collins is among those asking that his appointment be reconsidered.
“As a survivor, I’m very surprised at the appointment in Chile because it seems to go against … what the Holy Father has been saying about not wanting anyone in positions of trust in the church who don’t have an absolutely 100 percent record of child protection,” Collins is quoted as saying in the National Catholic Reporter.
The four enroute will meet with Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley who heads the Vatican commission and who is in Rome for a meeting of the Council of Cardinals that advises the pope on reforming the Vatican bureaucracy.
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