VATICAN CITY (CNS): The phenomenon of the sexual abuse of minors within the Church requires a strong response that is “not inertia, a culture of silence or repression,” the Vatican’s top investigator of clerical sex abuse said.
Monsignor Charles Scicluna, promoter of justice for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the church must do all it could to respond to the problem and emphasise protection of children was integral to the good of the universal church.
Msgr Scicluna spoke at a news conference to present an upcoming symposium on sexual abuse that organisers hoped would contribute to a “global culture” of transparency and commitment to keeping children and young people safe within the Catholic Church.
The symposium, to be held in Rome in February, will give bishops and other church leaders a chance to learn from experts the best practices learned over the last several years about sexual abuse of minors from psychological, juridical, sociologic and child-protection standpoints.
At the news conference June 18 at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where the symposium will be held, promoters explained that it was part of a long process to make reparations and undergo deep change in the wake of the scandal that had shaken the church.
Titled Toward Healing and Renewal, the symposium will help bishops and religious orders comply with a recent circular letter from the doctrinal congregation.
The letter requires each bishops’ conference to submit a set of guidelines on how it deals with accusations of abuse and ministering to victims by May 2012.
The organisers also announced that an electronic database would include the most up-to-date information about the problem, including best practices from various bishops’ congregations and the latest research regarding several aspects of the problem.
Msgr Scicluna, the top investigator in matters of clerical abuse, said while bishops and major superiors would not be obligated to follow the advice offered during the symposium, they would be “lacking in prudence” if they did not.
He said the letter from Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the congregation, had placed the responsibility for determining guidelines squarely with the bishops.
The procedures put in place “must be adequate to give a credible, transparent and accountable response to the very sad phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors,” he said.
Msgr Scicluna said increased awareness within the whole church community about the problem was the key to prevention among bishops, families and even children, to the extent their age allowed them to understand.
There should be “an atmosphere where it is easy to recognize the abuse of power of an erotic nature,” and “not only heal wounds, but prevent abuse,” he said.
The problem of sexual abuse of minors requires a strong response, he said.
“Inertia is not a response, nor is a culture of silence or repression a response,” he said.
