BishopAccountability.org
	Our View: Pope Promises to Protect Children (vote in Poll) The Gazette June 15, 2010 http://www.gazette.com/opinion/pope-100267-sexual-friday.html Pope Benedict XVI asked forgiveness Friday from victims of sexual abuse and promised to do “everything possible” to protect children. That's a good step forward. There is no reason to believe a papal pledge to “do everything possible” won’t be fulfilled. But Pope Benedict isn’t the only man who should apologize and promise reforms to protect children. Sexual abuse of children is rampant throughout the world. The Associated press produced a three-part series in 2007 after a yearlong investigation by reporters. The report, mostly ignored by the country’s leading newspapers, found rampant sexual abuse of children in American public schools and a pattern of administrators covering up for abusers and sending them off to other schools. A federal report estimated that 422,000 California public school students would be victims of sexual misconduct before graduation — a number that dwarfs the state’s Catholic school enrollment of 143,000. A $105 million judgment against an Episcopal Church school in October 2000 remains among the largest single-victim sexual abuse judgments against a religious institution. The Hare Krishnas of the United States settled a $400 million lawsuit in 2004 involving children sexually abused at Hare Krishna schools. It generated no headlines. Denver Post reporter Electa Draper set out in May to determine whether Catholic institutions have had a worse-than-normal problem with abuse of children. Child advocacy groups, scholars and insurance executives said no way. “It would be incorrect to call it a Catholic problem,” said Rich Schaber, risk control manager for Church Mutual Insurance Co. Other executives concurred. “Our claims experience shows this happens evenly across denominations,” said Melanie Stonewall, spokeswoman for Guide One Center for Risk Management, which insures more than 40,000 religious institutions. Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said the Catholic Church has had no more occurrence of sexual abuse than other religious organizations. He said abusers seek work in institutions, secular and religious, that provide access to children. The Catholic Church is the largest charity in the world. For every pervert who has used it to find prey there are millions of Catholics who give comfort and aid to the ill and the poor as a way of life. It is imperative for Catholic bishops, priests, sisters, brothers and deacons to hold themselves to a higher standard than seen in the secular culture. If there is an institution in which children should be safe from sexual abuse it’s the church that advocates sexual order and condemns sex outside of marriage. If the Vatican is looking for a model of reform, it should consider the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. American bishops devised a 17-point charter in 2002 and established a child protection agency in Washington. Anyone working with children in Catholic institutions undergoes education in detecting and reporting abuse and agrees to a background check. The most recent annual audit of sexual abuse in the church, conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, found that American dioceses spent $21 million in 2009 for child protection training, background checks and salaries for child protection professionals. The audit found six allegations of sexual abuse involving children in U.S. Catholic institutions in 2009. One case is too many, but it will be a great day when other institutions become so safe. Sexual abuse must stop in all organizations. We should hope and pray Pope Benedict XVI’s promise will lead to a solution for others to follow.
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