Bishops Praise Themselves on Child Sex Abuse Again, SNAP Responds

By Barbara Dorris
SNAP
April 10, 2012

http://www.snapnetwork.org/bishops_praise_themselves

Since it was adopted a decade ago, the bishops’ extremely vague abuse policy has been consistently weakened and sporadically followed. So these alleged “audits” are nearly meaningless.

It’s ironic that bishops pat themselves on the back now when for the first time ever, two top Catholic officials (in Philadelphia and Kansas City) face criminal charges for ignoring, concealing and enabling heinous child sex crimes. Those horrific cases prove that, when it comes to kids’ safety, little in church hierarchy has changed.

And it’s ironic that this news release

-- is sent on the eve of a California trial involving a predator priest who was only removed from his post after a jury found him guilty of molesting a child (Fr. Michael Kelly of Stockton),

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120410/A_NEWS/204100325

And

--quotes a prelate (Cardinal Tim Dolan) who, just last year on his blog, insensitively questioned a teenager who promptly reported being molested by her priest

http://blog.archny.org/?p=1556

It’s disingenuous for bishops to harp on how “old” many child sex abuse allegations are. History, psychology and common sense tell us most victims can’t disclose their suffering for decades. So there always has been and likely always will be a long ‘lag time’ between the crimes and the reports of those crimes. That’s no reason for anyone to get complacent.