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	'We Wanted Action to Change the Culture of the Catholic Church' By Margaret Kennedy Scotsman April 5, 2010 http://news.scotsman.com/uk/39We-wanted--action-to.6203209.jp UNITED KINGDOM -- THE Catholic Church is undergoing probably the most serious challenge ever to emerge in this century. It has been referred to as "crisis" but the nature of the crisis is not that the Church may crumble or lose parishioners. It is more insidious, deeper and complex. The crisis was born many years ago when bishops, archbishops and successive popes collectively decided the Church must at all costs serve itself and not children. The decision to forfeit children who had been abused by clergy is causing utter fury The deliberateness of moving sex offenders without calling the police, to shelter sex offenders, to "lose" files, destroy files, to keep them in "secret" locked places, and to use diplomatic immunity is now rebounding in the only just way it should. The exocet of public horror, anger and call for justice is a wonderful thing for victims to see. I for one have seen the resurrection of the public who in years past were "dead" to their own sense of justice, silent and in denial. Easter has happened this year. But sadly not yet for the Pope, who continually hurts survivors and who, in his papal address, failed to sufficiently address the suffering of clergy abuse survivors. Platitudes and calls for prayer are almost an insult; we were waiting for more – we were waiting for condemnation and we were waiting for direction. We wanted a strategy of action to change the culture of the Catholic Church. We wanted leadership that would create active, real accountability, truth, justice and commitment to acknowledging the harm done and that the hierarchy and the Vatican would wear the sackcloth and ashes. Instead, we were given stones, not bread. • Dr Margaret Kennedy is founder of Minister & Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors, a national organisation supporting women and men sexually abused by clergy or ministers.
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