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	Vatican Newspaper: Greater Presence of Women Could Have Prevented Abuse Scandals Catholic Culture March 11, 2010 http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=5694 VATICAN CITY -- Lucetta Scaraffia argues in a L'Osservatore Romano article that an increased presence of women, both religious and lay, in the "decisional spheres" of the Church could have helped prevent the "painful and shameful" clerical abuse scandal. The Italian historian and journalist cites the example of St. Daniel Comboni (1831-81), who established missions in Sudan. According to Scaraffia, the saint believed that the presence of nuns is "essential" in the missions because they are a "defense and a guarantee" of the missionary priest's chastity. Otherwise, Scaraffia writes, the isolated priest would "not improbably" be tempted to unchastity with women or boys. Pope John Paul II's 1988 apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem and a 2004 letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith called for a "greater feminine presence in the Church," Scaraffia adds, but these documents have yet to be fully implemented.
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