UNITED STATES
Irish Central
Tom Deignan @irishcentral June 27,2016
Earlier this month, Pope Francis translated his much-discussed “breath of fresh” air into action when it comes to cracking down on the sexual abuse crisis that has crippled the church in recent years. The pope changed church law so that bishops who may be looking the other way when it comes to predatory priests can more easily be removed.
As The Wall Street Journal noted, “The new document, entitled ‘Like a Living Mother,’ lays out a procedure for Vatican offices to initiate investigations of bishops suspected of negligence. While other sorts of negligence must be deemed ‘very grave’ by the Vatican to trigger removal, negligence of abuse cases need only meet the standard of ‘grave.’“
This does sound a little technical. Still, at least it can be counted as action taken towards attempting to solve a problem that has ruined so many lives.
Closer to home, however, a new front has been opened over fallout from the sex abuse scandals. Thus far, the response by American church authorities has not been encouraging.
For months, the New York Daily News has been railing against lawmakers in Albany who refused to pass reforms that would give sex abuse victims more time to identify and help prosecute individuals and institutions that failed to protect them. Currently, New York and other states have statutes of limitations which make it difficult for victims to get justice as the years go on.
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