May the Church be a “safe haven”

Over 95% of Catholic parishes of England and Wales have at least one representative in charge of monitoring the safety of the living environment of children to ensure the absence of risks of abuse and violence of all kinds. It is the “most important” positive data registered in the annual report of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission, an independent body of the Catholic Church in England and Wales established in 2008. The scandal of paedophilia, albeit marked by smaller numbers and impact compared to Ireland and Belgium, has not spared British Catholics. Following a number of complaints emerged in early 2000 in England, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the then head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, instructed Judge Michael Patrick Nolan to inquire about this phenomenon and make recommendations. The safety-challenge. The Nolan Report was published in April 2001. It suggested the creation of a Catholic organization for the protection of children along with a series of measures to uproot paedophilia from the Church. Suggestions include confessionals with glass doors, a database to check all the information on seminarians, a person in charge of the wellbeing of children in every parish, diocese and religious order. Finally, the advice not to give any assignment involving children to those who have been sentenced, and immediately investigate those suspected. Fourteen years have passed and the English Church has made significant steps to meet the challenge of security and protection of minors. It is what Pope Francis is asking churches worldwide. In a letter sent to Bishops Conferences and religious congregations past February, the Pope wrote: “Families need to know that the Church is making every effort to protect their children. They should also know that they have every right to turn to the Church with full confidence, for it is a safe and secure home”. Chris Pearson, president of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission, said with satisfaction: “This report highlights the work of the Commission in full and it is only a snapshot of the results achieved over the past year. We are progressing toward a much more coherent and sensitive approach, in response to the victims and the survivors of abuse”. Monitoring and prevention. The Report highlights monitoring and prevention efforts throughout the territory: the percentage of parishes without a safeguarding chief fell to below 5%. In 2014, were filed 79 complaints of abuse against children. They involved 118 victims and 83 perpetrators. There are also cases involving the spread of child pornography images, whereby – states the report – the total number of confirmed victims is probably much higher. The Report shows that in 2014 diocesan priests were charged with 16 cases of sexual abuse, 3 involving physical violence, and 4 child pornography. There have been 11 complaints of sexual abuse, 3 for use of child pornography by the religious. The complaints also involve “volunteers” and “employees” for a total of 17. Unfortunately, charges were also filed against women religious, involved in five complaints (3 for physical violence, 1 for sexual abuse and 1 for emotional violence). The number of complaints signals a state of very high alert coupled by the imperative to remain vigilant owing to a constant trend in recent years: in 2013 there were 81 complaints and in 2010 as many as 92. Danny Syullivan, who led the Commission to date, remarked: “Listening attentively and reaching out to the survivors has been the greatest challenge”. It’s a task that cannot be improvised. Therefore the English Commission has launched an e-learning program addressed to members of the Catholic community. The purpose is to give everyone the opportunity to access training to promote awareness, deepen understanding of the phenomenon and develop good practices. Misdeeds, forgiveness, responsibility. Adrian Child, member of the Commission, developed a set of guidelines for future action based on the fact that the Church has not lost trust in herself and in her ability to carry out her ministry among the young. Today the protection of protecting children and vulnerable adults is widely acknowledged as a priority along with the need to train those in charge of handling and filing complaints. On the basis of years-long experience we know that “acts of forgiveness do not eliminate the consequences of the misdeeds of the perpetrators and of the Church on behalf of which they acted”.