United Nations fires missiles at the Church

By Malin Jordan
B.C. Catholic
February 18, 2014

http://bcc.rcav.org/opinion-and-editorial/3550-united-nations-fires-missiles-at-the-church

Auxilary Bishop Kane of Chicago addresses the media during a Jan. 15 press briefing to discuss the release of documents relating to 30 priests accused of sexual abuse. Jordan writes that the UN, in a new report, claimed the Vatican kept a "code of silence" to cover abuse cases

For an agency of "peace," the UN sure likes to lob missiles. Its latest salvo, fired from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, is aimed at re-making the Catholic Church./strong /strong The report from the UNCRC was supposed to be on the sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Church over the past couple of decades or so. And that would have been fair enough./strong /strong The UN body blasted the Vatican in the report over what it called a "code of silence" that Rome used to cover abuse cases, to silence victims, and to move guilty priests around. It likened the Vatican's actions in dealing with the cases to a culture of protection./strong /strong "The committee is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by, and the impunity of, the perpetrators," the UN report stated./strong /strong Then the world-remakers in New York couldn't resist the temptation to try to remake the Church in the UN's image./strong /strong Instead of continuing to report on sexual abuse and make constructive recommendations the Vatican could use to help the new abuse commission that Pope Francis has formed, the report spirals into the three most-worshiped secular commandments: abortion, contraception, and same-sex marriage.

Instead of working on the cause of child protection, the UNCRC wags its finger at Rome over the abuse crisis and proceeds to talk canon law. The report declares Rome needs to change Church law on such things as allowing access to abortion for pregnant young mothers and cancelling excommunication for anyone involved in an abortion, along with other culture-war issues./strong /strong It's unfortunate the UN chose to play politics in its report instead of actually trying to help and find ways to support victims. They chose politics over making good recommendations - which there were in the report - but which have now been overshadowed by liberal ideology./strong /strong Firing its culture-war missiles instead of focusing on the protection of children, the UNCRC has only succeeded in damaging its own report - along with any possible solutions it may have had to offer the Vatican./strong /strong Focusing on the real problems of outing of abusers, better ways for the Church to deal with priests and bishops who have been involved in cover-ups, and protecting victims would have been wise and thoughtful. Instead it's the same-old, tired rant from a world body that seems to be more content with promulgating ideology than finding practical solutions to real problems./strong /strong * * * * */strong /strong In our 83-year history we've made changes to the look and design of your B.C. Catholic. Some of those changes have been small, such as the font and layout change we made to our nameplate between 1931's Issue 5 and Issue 6./strong /strong Some changes have been large, such as the complete redesign of our nameplate between 2006's Issue 44 and Issue 45./strong /strong Now we've made another small change to our nameplate. After more than seven years with only the shield part of the Archdiocese of Vancouver's logo, we've now incorporated the official logo. You'll notice it on Page 1. Now we have the archbishop's mitre and pallium atop the shield.