The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called on Pope Francis yesterday to take “tangible steps” to prevent widespread sexual abuse by clergy members instead of asking for forgiveness from victims.
Yesterday Pope Francis met with six people who were sexually abused by clergy members as children to ask for their forgiveness. He led them in a private mass and met individually with the survivors, one man and one woman each from Ireland, Britain, and Germany. In his homily yesterday, he also pledged to crack down on child sexual abusers in the clergy.
Although advocates for survivors were glad to see the Pope call for more accountability, they also feared that the meeting was simply a public relations stunt, allowing Catholic church leaders to sidestep dealing with the issue head-on. “These meetings are public relations coups for the Vatican and distracting placebos for others. They provide temporary but false hope,” said Mary Caplan, a member of SNAP. “In meetings, people can share knowledge. But Catholic officials don’t lack knowledge. They lack courage – the courage to be honest, to “out” and oust their criminal colleagues, both those who commit and conceal sexual violence against children. And they lack the incentive to act responsibly because those who act irresponsibly are virtually never defrocked, demoted, disciplined or even defrocked. No meeting with victims – however many or compelling or articulate they may be – changes this fundamental, distressing and unhealthy reality.”
Barbara Blaine, Founder and President of SNAP, who was herself raped by a parish priest as a teenager, commented that sexual abuse by church clergy and its cover up is still ongoing. “Stop talking about the crisis as though it’s past tense, and stop delaying while your abuse panel discusses details,” Blaine said. “You know the right thing to do.”
SNAP released a statement with 15 steps the Vatican could take to protect children from sexual abuse and hold offending clergy members accountable. Among other things, SNAP calls on the Vatican to insist that bishops permanently post information about child molesting clerics on diocesan and parish websites; to ensure that only licensed therapists work with abuse victims, instead of priests or nuns; and to use independent corrections staff to monitor child molesting clerics instead of other clergy members.
In the US alone, between 1950 and 2010, 6,100 priests were accused of abuse, leading to an estimated 100,000 victims. Globally, thousands more have been accused, and they have been frequently protected from punishment by being transferred to a different parish where they could start abusing others, as shown in recently released documents of the Chicago archdiocese.
While the Vatican has known about this issue for decades, they have done little to hold abusers accountable. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report demanding the Vatican take action in February, and the UN Committee Against Torture held a hearing to question Vatican leaders about their actions to address global child sexual abuse.
Media Resources: The New York Times 7/7/14; Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests 7/7/14; Feminist Newswire 1/23/14, 2/5/14, 5/6/14
