BishopAccountability.org
	Editorial: Changes Too Late for Victims BCLocalNews August 11 2010 http://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/100360079.html It’s the kind of news that spreads like wildfire. When police announced they had arrested 60-year-old Philip Jacobs at the Victoria International Airport, the story spread instantaneously across the Internet. With it, came another round of questions about how this can happen and what will be done to make sure it never does again. It’s maddening to think someone accused of sexual offences against young people could be given a position where they could potentially reoffend. There is an unfortunate history of sexual abuse occurring within the confines of churches. When it happens now, it’s inevitable that painful record will strike a chord with everyone who is justifiably angry that so much damage had been allowed to occur. The Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Victoria has said more could have been done to prevent Jacobs from being entrusted with vulnerable children. There were two psychiatric evaluations, including one by the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Evidently, the people doing these evaluations failed and should shoulder some of the blame. Some, but certainly not most. The Catholic church is among the planet’s oldest and largest organizations, with 50,000 people in this region alone identifying it as their religion. When changes happen, they can occur so slowly as if to seem no change has happened at all. Bishop Richard Gagnon notes that new rules adopted in 2005 would have prevented Jacobs from ever being hired. But those changes were too little too late for his alleged victims. The revelations of Jacobs arrest, and the fact he had a history of alleged abuse, won’t destroy his former parish or the church. But they will make more people question in who they are willing to put their faith.
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