The Catholic Church’s efforts to prevent clerical sexual abuse and protect children around the world will be “a long-term effort,” said the Rev. Robert W. Oliver, a Boston priest who began work on Feb. 1 as the promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. Speaking at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University on Feb. 5 of the role of the media in the crisis, Father Oliver said, “Those who continued to put before us that we needed to confront this problem did a service.” When one first hears of a case of abuse, he said, “every single one of us begins with denial,” which is why the entire church, at all levels, must make a concerted effort to educate its members about the reality of abuse and the best practices for protecting children. Hans Zollner, S.J., president of the directors’ committee of the Child Protection Center, said that in responding to the scandal and preventing abuse, “the road will be long and difficult because of resistance, conflicts and tensions” as well as “inertia, discouragement on the inside and attacks from the outside.”
Ending Abuse A Long Effort
Show Comments ()
4
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Jack Peppe
11 years 2 months ago
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/us/questioning-of-cardinal-in-abuse-suit-is-scheduled.html?adxnnl=1&ref=rogermmahony&adxnnlx=1361103883-clVAli2Y+Qo2/1HYkKFbTA&_r=5&
Put this hireling in jail along with the rest of the hirelings. Damn the torpedoes. We are talking about men who brought shame on the Name of our Lord, the HEAD of the Church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Such a man, at the very least, needs not have any part in our Catholic Hierarchy.
Otherwise, kiss Catholic CREDIBILITY goodbye. I, along with the rest of us Catholics, are tired of Catholic Altar Boy jokes. Put the pedophiles and pedophile apologists in jail like their heathen counterparts in the secular world.
The dialogue method of Popes John Paul ll and Benedict XVI has not produced fruit worthy of repentance in these men, as hoped. The season of dialogue ends with the brokenness of Pope Benedict's heart over the matter. At the very least, fire them, yesterday! Hire Donald Trump, to instruct you on simplicity of defrocking this "fifth column" out of our beautiful and called to Holiness, Catholic Church.
And while you are fixing things for Jesus Christ, go ahead and allow priests to get married, (to a female), to help aright this ship that is shipwrecking most all our faith. Pedophiles getting away with this travesty to justice is a mockery to GOD and man. Pedophiles in our Church Hierarchy is absurdity in it's basest definition. Jesus Christ has called us to get real. Judgement starts in the House of God. The Master callled us to judge, righteous judgement. Get on with it.
John Barbieri
11 years 2 months ago
What a shameful article this is!
It is more obfuscation to explain away the totally inadequate response of the church to these monstrous crimes. Apparently the task is so great that perhaps it shouldn't be undertaken at all. After all, the hierarchy is sacrosanct. Surely none of them should be bothered by these outrageous crimes at all -- far less that a number of them should be indicted and put on trial for their criminal actions or inactions!
All of the incense in Arabia will not overcome the stench of these crimes.
Molly Roach
11 years 2 months ago
“Every single one of us begins with denial.”???? That may have been so 25 years ago but is not the case now so Father Oliver should speak for himself. It is not very encouraging that he is the promoter of justice seeing what his perspective is.
Eugene Clough
11 years 1 month ago
This all-too-brief news brief is one of the saddest I have ever read about the Catholic hierarchy. The crisis has been in the public eye since at least the 1980's. Yet we are led to believe that there remain serious obstacles to a resolution. I think America magazine has a moral obligation to publish an in-depth interview with Fathers Oliver and Zollner. The laity has a right to know the full explanation of "resistance" and other problems they cite.
The latest from america
Few events inspire a media spectacle quite like the election of a pope. Zac and Ashley talk with church historian Miles Pattenden to learn how conclaves evolved—and how they might change in the future.
In “Hugo,” Scorsese’s only family-friendly feature to date, he reflects on how dreams give meaning to our lives and help us persevere through life’s hardships.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans had been ordered by a New Orleans criminal court to turn over records relating to a long-running criminal investigation involving multiple accused priests.
“Inside the Vatican” host Colleen Dulle shares how her visit to Argentina gave her a deeper understanding into Francis’ emphasis on “being amongst the people” and his belief that “you can’t do theology behind a desk.”