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	Church Acts to Deal with Abuse by Clergy Sydney Morning Herald June 20, 2011 http://www.smh.com.au/world/church-acts-to-deal-with-abuse-by-clergy-20110619-1ga4e.html ROME: Bishops and the leaders of religious orders from around the world have been invited to a symposium at Rome's Jesuit University in February on how to prevent and respond to abuse of children by clergy members. Psychologists, theologians and child-abuse specialists are expected to participate in the symposium, providing expertise to bishops, whom the Vatican has given a deadline of next May to come up with guidelines on how to handle accusations of abuse. Plans also call for information to be posted on an internet learning centre and in a database that will involve co-operation with medical schools and universities, and will be accessible, in part, to the public. Advertisement: Story continues below "The church is taking an important step in the formation of the clergy," Monsignor Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's internal prosecutor in charge of handling sexual abuse cases, said at the weekend. And the multilingual internet database will amass information "that will continue through time", and reach a wide audience, he said. The conference in Rome, called "Toward Healing and Renewal", is part of the Catholic Church's response as it struggles to deal with the disapproval and anger among Catholics and the wider public, stirred by the revelations of widespread abuse by members of the clergy of children and adolescents. The church's path to redemption has been bumpy and attempts to right the wrongs have been criticised as lacking, in particular, of holding bishops responsible in cases of cover-up. Monsignor Scicluna acknowledged that bishops "come in all shapes and sizes" and the Vatican spokesman admitted some bishops' conferences have no interest in being forced into drafting guidelines. The Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, said the symposium and database were signs that the church was resolute in its commitment to tackling child sexual abuse. "We're doing something, and we're doing it seriously," he said. "It will be difficult, but we're determined."
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