person and family" "
“The Church has it profoundly at heart that the witness of its male and female personnel be credible”. To this end, the Swiss Episcopal Conference at the end of its 258th ordinary assembly published a document on 5 December with the title “Sexual abuse in the context of pastoral care” which contains a series of “directives for dioceses” if they should find themselves involved in cases of sexual abuse committed by persons employed in the Church’s pastoral ministry. The bishops invite the ecclesial communities to break “the grey zones of silence” and affirm that “the feelings that concern the sphere of sexuality may often be passed over in silence, rejected and sometimes even denied. Often the blame is even laid at the door of the victim”. Hence the bishops’ appeal for “transparency, openness and candour. Only in a climate of dialogue and discussion says the document may hypocrisy, dissimulation and deceit be combated”. Conscious that the formal procedures may be lengthy, the Swiss Episcopate asks the dioceses to make provision, “alongside the penal procedure, for an informal process during which information on what has happened should be transmitted to the competent ecclesial service by a person of trust (psychiatrist, physician, pastoral workers, lawyer) without revealing the name of the victim”. The bishops urge the dioceses to help the victims in every possible way, “in the form of pastoral, psychotherapeutic and even financial support”. A commission of experts has also been set up, composed of 11 members, including representatives of the Church and experts, with the job of advising bishops on this matter.
