CHURCH WATCHDOG: SOME CATHOLIC Church leaders are
still not giving full commitment to implementing the best
child-protection practices, the head of the church’s watchdog on the
issue said last night.
Ian Elliott, chief executive of the
church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children, said “the vast
majority” of Catholic bishops and religious superiors were very much
committed” to implementing strong practices.
But “there are still a few
who have not yet arrived at that position”.
Mr Elliott said it was
“a changing situation” and expressed the hope “the tragedy of Cloyne”
would assist in this.
The board has completed an audit of
child-protection practices in three dioceses, he said, and “completed
the fieldwork” in three more.
Reports on these should be completed by
the end of this month, he said.
The findings of such
audits/reports can only be published with the permission of the relevant
bishop.
“The position of the board is that it strongly recommends that
the reports be published,” he said, and this was “actively being
discussed”.
The Irish Times understands a factor in the
reluctance on the part of some bishops to publish results of audits was
being influenced by their desire not to pressurise more reluctant
colleagues into doing so.
Where the Cloyne report was concerned,
Mr Elliott worried about the effect it was having on the thousands of
safeguarding volunteers across Ireland.
Their work was “very important
and very valued”, he said.
The Catholic church has a world-wide, consistent, organized approach to concealing rampant child sex abuse by Catholic priests. In places where it's investigated by outsiders - like Philadelphia, Ireland, etc, they've found epidemic child rape and criminal cover up.
ReplyDeleteTo see how bad it still is in 2011 in the US, Google "Philadelphia district attorney grand jury report" and read just the first 6 pages. The perverted sex with children, and the organized cover up are horrifying.
It's organized crime, and should be investigated and prosecuted in the US using RICO statutes. Unlike the mafia, it's not the primary job of the church to commit these crimes, but there's no question that they committed thousands of child sex crimes in the United States alone, and covered it up in criminal fashion, although they knew the laws well enough to outlast the statute of limitations.
This makes them an organized crime institution, and they should be investigated like the mafia.
The fact that they continue to ignore or fight the victims, and the fact that they continue to lie and mislead their sheepish congregation makes them a horrible church. God made the laws so simple, yet Catholic priests and bishops don't follow them, and their congregation can't figure that out.
Elsewhere in the world, Amnesty International and others should use their power to sue the Vatican.
'The findings of such audits/reports can only be published with the permission of the relevant bishop.'
ReplyDeleteThis shocking provision will greatly undermine people's confidence in the independence and usefulness of the National Board for Safeguarding Children. I'm amazed that Mr Elliott has acceded to such a condition.