PHILADELPHIA (PA)
U.S. Catholic
By Lou Baldwin Catholic News Service
PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Church action following the clergy sexual abuse scandal is most importantly about justice for the victims. But it’s also about healing — not only for the victims, but for the entire church community.
With that in mind the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has begun a new initiative, “Honesty, Healing and Hope in Christ: Confronting Sexual Violence in Our Archdiocese.” The plan, which consists of four phases implemented over six months, is designed to address the feelings and responses experienced when final resolutions about clergy are announced and going forward.
Coordinating the initiative is Mary Achilles, who served as victims advocate for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for a decade, and who is the victims advocate for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
“This is all about the parishioners, people who have been impacted,” Achilles said at a May 4 news conference. “As Catholics, we have been battered by this experience, and our sense of the integrity of the process has been robbed.
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