“Giving voice to the inexpressible” to help the victims and restore credibility to the Churches. With this aim, “Church together in Britain and Ireland” (CTBI), an ecumenical organization representing all the Christian churches of Great Britain and Ireland, has published a report with the title “Time for Action” on sexual abuse and the involvement of the ecclesiastical institutions. The report was drafted by a work group whose members include exponents of the Churches and representatives of victim-support groups. The report appeals to the churches to “recognize the way in which the institutions have often passed over in silence those who have been abused and protected the abusers”. The report “doesn’t make easy reading”, says the Rev. David Gamble (Methodist Church), moderator of the work group, who adds: “We have heard things we would have preferred never to have listened to… but once read, the report calls for action”. According to Msgr. Mario Conti, Catholic archbishop of Glasgow and chairman of the CTBI, the report “may represent a valid contribution to the debate” and Rowan Williams, new Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, adds: “few questions in recent years have compromised the credibility of various church institutions so much as those relating to the abuse of children and adults by church personnel, and especially by clergy. Examining this phenomenon with honesty may be painful but it is essential for the life of the Church and her mission“.
