Head of Scottish abuse commission: Church should change her culture, theology
March 19, 2014
The head of a commission that is reviewing Scottish dioceses’ abuse procedures said that the Catholic Church should change her “culture and theology.”
In November, Scotland’s Catholic episcopal conference announced that Andrew McLellan would lead the review. McLellan is the former moderator of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is Scotland’s leading Protestant denomination, and also has served as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons.
“I am not here representing the Church of Scotland, but my own church has learned a lot about helping parishes to ‘own’ and to love safeguarding,” McLellan said on March 18, according to The Herald. “We have done a fairly significant theological piece of work about balancing the responsibility of a Christian organization to forgive against the responsibility of a Christian organization to protect.”
“That kind of thinking is very important for the Catholic Church to do as well,” he added. “I am hoping that they will themselves choose to change the culture and theology of their Church.”
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Further information:
- Minister: change is needed in Catholic Church (The Herald)
- Former Moderator Assists Roman Catholic Church with safeguarding review (Church of Scotland)
- Scotland’s Catholic Bishops announce range of safeguarding initiatives (Scottish Catholic Media Office)
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Posted by: TheJournalist64 -
Mar. 19, 2014 7:39 PM ET USA
This reminds me of the old preacher who asked his flock if they felt far from God. "If so, understand that it wasn't God who moved." To change theology fundamentally, we have to admit that the Church God guarantees the faith of has been wrong. And about what?
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Posted by: jg23753479 -
Mar. 19, 2014 7:23 AM ET USA
McClellan seems to have missed the chapter on the 16th century in his college history course. The Church should "change her theology"? That's exactly what the sect he currently militates in did 400 years ago. It's only my opinion, naturally, but from what I can see, that change doesn't seem to have improved matters much; tout le contraire.
