Bishops, National Review Board: What we have learned from abuse victims

May 17, 2010

Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, chairman of the Committee for Child and Youth Protection of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Diane Knight, chair of the USCCB’s National Review Board, have published separate reflections on what has been learned from the clerical abuse scandal.

“We have learned that, in spite of their own pain and suffering, many victim/survivors are just as concerned that the Church prevents this abuse from happening to more children as they are about themselves and their own needs for healing,” Ms. Knight writes in a May 14 press release. Bishop Cupich notes in a May 17 article that the bishops have learned that “Catholics have been hurt by the moral failings of some priests, but they have been hurt and angered even more by bishops who failed to put children first. People expect religious leaders above all to be immediate and forthright in taking a strong stand in the face of evil, such as the harm done to children and young people by sexual abuse.”

 

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Further information:

• What National Review Board Learned From Child Sex Abuse Victims (USCCB)
• Twelve Things the Bishops Have Learned From the Abuse Crisis (America Magazine)