INDIA
Daijiworld
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Mar 7: Dealing with cases involving sexual abuse of minors by priests and religious and implementation of anti-sexual harassment policy as well as child protection policy are new sections in the completely revised Pastoral Handbook of the Bengaluru Archdiocese, which is being implemented in the Archdiocese of Bengaluru with effect from this month.
The 736-page revised pastoral handbook since the publication of the first edition in 2009, according to the Archbishop Dr Bernard Moras, contains a few “new additions that are found to be essential for effective and better pastoral ministry.”
Some of the new additions and guidelines based on the Code of Canon Law and the latest thinking in the Catholic Church as enunciated by the present Pope Francis are certainly worth implantation in other dioceses as well.
The pastoral handbook has been “revised and updated to maintain currency and relevance,” the Archbishop said pointing out that the main objective was to “set the framework for the planning and designing of new ministries and upgrading the existing ones. The priestly character is the root of the specific action of the sacred minister, who acts in the person of Christ as his extension, on behalf of the local and universal community, he said.
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