The Catholic Church Is Doing Its Best to Stamp out Child Abuse, by Luke de Pulford, The Guardian, May 16, 2011

The Catholic Church Is Doing Its Best to Stamp out Child Abuse

By Luke de Pulford
The Guardian
May 16, 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/may/16/catholic-church-vatican-letter-child-abuse

'Church bureaucrats have been flailing around desperately in an attempt to police the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics since the first scandals erupted in Boston.' Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP

Reading the authoritative letter from the Vatican to bishops worldwide one picture emerges more than any other: far from being some sort of well-organised paedophile protection ring, church bureaucrats have been flailing around desperately in an attempt to police the world's 1.2 billion Catholics since the first scandals erupted in Boston, and are clearly doing all they can.

Consider first the letter's detailing of the many reforms and processes introduced in the last 10 years by Rome, intended to make it easier to deal with case of abuse. Second, its restating that procedures in civil law must be followed – which, depending on where you live, usually means referring all allegations to police and social services.

Third, its clarification that the church's own law must be invoked to punish perpetrators. This in no way contradicts the previous point; every citizen bound by church law is equally obliged to observe the laws of their own country – and, contrary to popular belief, this has always been the case.

Fourth, its insistence that, for the purposes of church law, it is primarily the bishop's responsibility to deal with these cases. Different jurisdictions have different legal systems (the laws relating to child abuse in the UK are very different to those of the Germany, China or Lesotho); bishops must put in place the procedures that best ensure the abuse is dealt with – as the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales did as far back as 2001 in a set of well-respected and effective guidelines that are rigorously enforced, and which the government recommends as a model for other institutions.

But it's worth digressing to emphasise that this isn't the case everywhere, and there have continued to be tragic cases of inattention to the experience of victims, and a tendency to put the interests of the church first — the Cloyne report from Ireland will be published this week, which seems certain to reiterate this damning pattern, and the retch-inducingly abhorrent Philadelphia case shows how far some dioceses have to go. This letter makes clearer than ever that a bishop is failing in his duty when these things happen and that he will be held accountable for his actions.

These are not the actions of an abusive organisation, they are clear attempts to transform a crushingly inert bureaucratic structure into a global rapid response unit. Catholics are in two minds about the media's coverage of clerical sex abuse. Some think it has been a blessing, forcing the church worldwide to face up to the issue; others that the media have exaggerated and distorted their coverage, scapegoated the church, and played "gotcha" with an institution they are hard-wired to loathe.

Both, of course, are true. Without the media and the lawyers whose actions first gave rise to the stories, it is unlikely that the church would be acting as it is. But nor would priests be spat at because wearing the collar made them "paedophiles" in the minds of their aggressors (I've seen this three times). Given that the sum total of priests convicted of abuse in England and Wales in the past 50 years is less than half of one per cent, there is a question of proportion here: the ordained are no more likely to commit abuse than people of any other vocation or profession.

And thank God that the church hasn't forgotten its duty to observe the hallowed legal principle that the accused must remain innocent until proven guilty, even if, as the letter restates, a priest does not need to be convicted to be removed from active ministry until the matter is cleared up. Protection of the vulnerable is paramount and the good of the universal church (which includes the interests of victims – as the letter clearly states) must be taken in to account for that very reason.

No letters, guidelines or punishments can right the unfathomable wrong of being abused by the very person who should embody to you the divine care of Jesus. The Vatican's guidelines today show that the church – still clearly reeling with shock – is doing all it can to stamp out this evil.