SCOTLAND
Christian Today
Ruth Gledhill CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
18 August 2015
The Catholic Church must make an “unmistakable and unequivocal” public apology to all survivors of abuse within the Church, a report says today.
The Church must act both to “heal the hurt” and address the anger of the many victims of abuse over many decades, says the report by the McLellan Commission, set up by the Roman Catholic bishops of Scotland.
The Church now has an “unrepeatable” chance to put things right for victims of abuse.
“If this opportunity is not taken the public credibility of the Catholic Church in Scotland will be destroyed,” warned the Very Rev Dr Andrew McLellan, a former moderator of the Church of Scotland, who was asked to chair the 11-member commission set up after a series of scandals that went right to the top of the Church.
The allegations included reports of abuse at a former Catholic boarding school at Fort Augustus Abbey in the Scottish Highlands.
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, resigned two years ago after it was revealed that he had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with junior priests.
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