Home Jacksonville Representative Part of Meeting with Pope
By Brett Luster
Pope Francis met in Vatican City this week with six victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, assuring followers that bishops would be held accountable for protection of minors, while not spelling out the concrete changes in enforcement of policies already in place. A Catholic official representing the Springfield diocese, which includes Jacksonville and area parishes, says Pope Francis underscored the need for healing among Catholics since cases of priest sexual abuse surfaced in 2003, rocking the church across America. Robert Gilligan represents all six Catholic dioceses across Illinois as the executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois. He said the church in Illinois already has policies protecting children who have been sexually abused. He also said there is a zero tolerance policy regarding priests who have been accused of wrongdoing. According to Gilligan, clerics alleged with sexual abuse with minors would be removed from ministry positions indefinitely so facts can be gathered and during such times the priests would not serve in positions in which they would have contact with children. “We err on the side of caution,” he said. The pontiff is adding awareness to the issue and with more consciousness about the problem, cases have become fewer, Gilligan said. According to Gilligan, only one priest of the 120 clerics who have served in positions in the past 10 years within the Springfield diocese has been laicized because of sexual misconduct with a minor. Another sexual abuse allegation was deemed credible in January regarding misconduct with a minor more than 30 years ago, he said. Gilligan said it is more common for parents and coaches to be charged with sexual wrongdoing toward minors than it for the same charges to be brought against the clergy. “I don’t think this is an active problem in the clergy, but I do think it’s worth pointing out that this is a societal problem,” he said. Gilligan said there is a lot of healing that has to occur. “I don’t think you can ever have too much healing in a very wounded world,” he said. Kate Bochte, a leader of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said church leaders need to do more to protect children from molestation. She also said when people speak out from within, there are unintended consequences. Bochte said she was shunned in 2003 when she and her husband began to speak out against alleged clergy sex abuse by being removed from positions in her former suburban Chicago parish. Bochte said she recalled hearing abuse stories one-on-one from people who were molested by priests. “That’s when I realized the whole story wasn’t getting out,” said Bochte, not a survivor herself. “There’s a lot of cover-up in the church.” She said she and her husband removed themselves from the Catholic church, partly because she thought the environment would be a bad example for their two children. SNAP president and founder Barbara Blaine said through a press release that abuse is still going on and the pope’s statements made virtually no difference in protecting children. “The pope says the church should ‘make reparations’ to victims,’” the statement said. “That’s secondary. Stopping abuse and protecting children comes first. And sadly, no child on earth is safer today because of this meeting.” Contact: bluster@civitasmedia.com
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