The Vatican's letter to bishops shows an organisation taking the problem of paedophilia very seriously.
Reading the authoritative letter from the Vatican to bishops worldwide
one picture emerges more than any other: far from being some sort of
well-organised paedophile protection ring, church bureaucrats have been
flailing around desperately in an attempt to police the world's 1.2
billion Catholics since the first scandals erupted in Boston, and are
clearly doing all they can.
Consider first the letter's detailing
of the many reforms and processes introduced in the last 10 years by
Rome, intended to make it easier to deal with case of abuse.
Second, its
restating that procedures in civil law must be followed – which,
depending on where you live, usually means referring all allegations to
police and social services.
Third, its clarification that the
church's own law must be invoked to punish perpetrators. This in no way
contradicts the previous point; every citizen bound by church law is
equally obliged to observe the laws of their own country – and, contrary
to popular belief, this has always been the case.
Fourth, its
insistence that, for the purposes of church law, it is primarily the
bishop's responsibility to deal with these cases.
Different
jurisdictions have different legal systems (the laws relating to child
abuse in the UK are very different to those of the Germany, China or
Lesotho); bishops must put in place the procedures that best ensure the
abuse is dealt with – as the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and
Wales did as far back as 2001 in a set of well-respected and effective
guidelines that are rigorously enforced, and which the government
recommends as a model for other institutions.
But it's worth
digressing to emphasise that this isn't the case everywhere, and there
have continued to be tragic cases of inattention to the experience of
victims, and a tendency to put the interests of the church first — the Cloyne report from Ireland will be published this week, which seems certain to reiterate this damning pattern, and the retch-inducingly abhorrent Philadelphia case
shows how far some dioceses have to go.
This letter makes clearer than
ever that a bishop is failing in his duty when these things happen and
that he will be held accountable for his actions.
These are not
the actions of an abusive organisation, they are clear attempts to
transform a crushingly inert bureaucratic structure into a global rapid
response unit.
Catholics are in two minds about the media's coverage of
clerical sex abuse.
Some think it has been a blessing, forcing the
church worldwide to face up to the issue; others that the media have
exaggerated and distorted their coverage, scapegoated the church, and
played "gotcha" with an institution they are hard-wired to loathe.
Both,
of course, are true.
Without the media and the lawyers whose actions
first gave rise to the stories, it is unlikely that the church would be
acting as it is.
But nor would priests be spat at because wearing the
collar made them "paedophiles" in the minds of their aggressors (I've
seen this three times).
Given that the sum total of priests convicted of
abuse in England and Wales in the past 50 years is less than half of
one per cent, there is a question of proportion here: the ordained are
no more likely to commit abuse than people of any other vocation or
profession.
And thank God that the church hasn't forgotten its
duty to observe the hallowed legal principle that the accused must
remain innocent until proven guilty, even if, as the letter restates, a
priest does not need to be convicted to be removed from active ministry
until the matter is cleared up.
Protection of the vulnerable is
paramount and the good of the universal church (which includes the
interests of victims – as the letter clearly states) must be taken in to
account for that very reason.
No letters, guidelines or
punishments can right the unfathomable wrong of being abused by the very
person who should embody to you the divine care of Jesus.
The Vatican's
guidelines today show that the church – still clearly reeling with
shock – is doing all it can to stamp out this evil.