BishopAccountability.org
	Chile's Catholic Church to Track Clergy Accused of Child Abuse By Mark Briggs Santiago Times April 28, 2011 http://www.santiagotimes.cl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21336:chiles-catholic-church-to-track-clergy-accused-of-child-abuse-&catid=1:other&Itemid=38 Compiling nationwide registry of the accused could prevent child abusers from moving between parishes Following the high profile case of Chilean Rev. Fernando Karadima and the spate of sexual abuse scandals that have shaken the Roman Catholic Church recently, a new body has been set up to take a proactive approach to prevention. The Church announced its 2011 Protocol for responding to rumors and accusations of child abuse (ST, April 26). As part of the new protocol, the Church's new body will propose, direct, and monitor prevention policies to be implemented in individual dioceses. The Episcopal Conference for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Support for Victims will be chaired by Bishop Monsignor Alejandro Goic. A top priority of the new body is the creation of a national list of priests and former seminarians accused of sexual abuse. Currently each diocese maintains its own lists and prevention policies, but they are often private and not shared with other sectors of the Church. The new list will prevent "high risk" persons from moving between parishes. The board will need to decide whether or not to make the list public, a measure several other countries have adopted. "This could become a witch hunt and that's not the idea," said Bishop Santiago Silva, who will sit on the new body. A decision on whether to make new investigations known to the public will also have to be made. The Church is keen to reconnect with parishioners after the damaging revelations of the Karadima case; in particular, one victim testified that he reported abuses but his complaints were ignored. Representatives of the Church, on the other hand, fear innocent priests could be unjustifiably labeled as child abusers based on ulterior motives. However, Silva did say that when a priest was removed from his position due to pedophilia, and "begins to move in society, outside the priesthood, in the field of schools and lower-status field, it's good for society to know that this priest had to leave the ministry." Saying there is no place in the priesthood for those who abuse minors and no excuse to justify the crimes, Silva said, "We have said we will do whatever is needed, with charity but with justice, to prevent the evils and serious mistakes that some ministers of the Church can commit against minors, and that at the same time represent a profound attack on the common good." Contact: editor@santiagotimes.cl
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.