Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Montreal: No priests alone with children. Ever.

Montreal (National Post) – Invoking past sexual abuse scandals and the need to create a “healthy and safe environment” in its churches, the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Montreal has announced new guidelines to ensure priests and lay workers are never alone with children.

“Recent events have brought to light the horrific reality of abuse of minors and vulnerable persons by members of the Church,” Christian Lépine, archbishop of Montreal, wrote in a message to the faithful dated Wednesday.

“These intolerable situations have shocked and shaken the Universal Church as well as the entire population to whom we wish to proclaim the Good News of Christ.”

A pilot project to begin this fall in 10 parishes and eventually extend to all 194 in Montreal will prohibit priests, staff and volunteers from being alone with minors. Following the lead of other organizations like amateur sport associations and the Scouts, the archdiocese will institute police screening of new hires and volunteers working with children or the vulnerable.

François Sarrazin, chancellor of the archdiocese, said the measures are intended to send a message.

“People who work in churches, if they hope to hide to commit acts of pedophilia, these people have no place in the service of the church,” he said.
The archdiocese is drawing on similar projects in Ontario and New Brunswick, he said.

In Bathurst, N.B., for example, the 2015 diocesan policy for responsible pastoral ministries states: “Members of the clergy, pastoral agents, employees or volunteers must avoid being alone in a closed area with a minor, unless there is another screened adult or the minor’s parents/guardians close by.”

It is a far cry from the days when Sarrazin, 67, was a boy entering the confessional booth with his heart beating and the priest on other side of the screen. These days, he said, when priests meet children, it may be out of earshot but it is always in full view of another adult.

“Simple human prudence dictates that you don’t remain alone with a child,” Sarrazin said.

In an interview with the Journal de Montréal, the archbishop called sexual abuse that occurred within the church “an unspeakable tragedy,” but said the institution has evolved.

“At one time, it was thought that (pedophilia) did not exist,” he said. “At another, it was thought to be curable, and priests were given a therapy session before being sent back to their ministry. Today, we know it exists, and we have to act.”

For Sébastien Richard, spokesman for a Quebec association of victims abused by priests, the new measures announced by the archdiocese are worthy, but they arrive too late.

With church attendance in steep decline, priests are an endangered species, he said. The potential for abuse is reduced simply by their dwindling numbers and by the fact they are no longer teaching in schools.

If the archbishop truly believes in addressing the “unspeakable tragedy” of past abuse, the church should stop invoking prescription – that too much time has passed since alleged events occurred — when facing civil suits from abuse victims, Richard said.

“Right now, there are hundreds, even thousands of victims of childhood sexual abuse, committed by priests and clergy, who are denied justice because the Catholic Church insists on invoking prescription so as to not have to compensate the victims,” he said.

14 comments:

  1. The "not alone", background checks, a misnamed "Faith Environment" class that all volunteers are required to take that should be named "Don't be a pedophile" class, etc. have been standard in my local RC diocese at least since I started sending my daughter to the local RC school 4 years ago. Interestingly, our local school had an "incident" in spite of these measures (though it was a rather mutual affair between a high school student and a teacher). These sorts of measures are obviously not full proof and sometime I wonder if the burden they place are truly balanced out by the benefits...

    ReplyDelete
  2. One of the biggest things hierarchical churches (be they Roman Catholic or Orthodox) could do would be to discipline Bishops who cover up for and enable abusers. Sadly, such bishops are nearly universally insulated from any repercussions. You'll never really fully address the clergy abuser problem until you address the terrible clericalism rife in many episcopal circles.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If a bishop can't trust any of his priests to ever be alone with a child, then all I can say is there are really serious and foundational problems in that diocese and this is not the solution. You start by sacking the bishop and finding a new one who knows how to lead, and who is prepared to go through his clergy with a fine tooth comb and root out the perverts. In my admittedly limited experience, those will very often be theological liberals if not outright heretics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. P.S. IMO any man who can't be trusted alone with a child should be automatically disqualified from Holy Orders and if already ordained should be deposed.

      Delete
    3. Accusation is the real problem: just the appearance of impropriety can be enough to destroy a priest. I have seen false accusations destroy good men, and so I myself make sure I am never alone with women or children. Heck, I don't even hug people unless they insist.

      Delete
  4. But John, isn't the problem that pedophiles are accomplished at getting everybody's trust? Parents and other adults are fooled all the time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, they are, and the massive scandal of the RC church has rightly eroded the trust of the public in this matter. This rule of never being alone with children should be followed not only because pedophiles are indeed adept at gaining trust, and to attempt to restore some public trust in the church,; but also for the protection of the clergy themselves from false accusations. For the same reasons we have confession in the church nave, where others can observe the behaviour of the priest with penitents of both sexes and all ages.

      Delete
  5. But John, isn't the problem that pedophiles are accomplished at getting everybody's trust? Parents and other adults are fooled all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is true. One of the hallmarks of a pedophile are their expertise at gaining trust and manipulation. Clearly, the usual "law and justice" and "trust" response to this particular dilemma is not very effective, and the simple fact is that this issue is linked to our sexual ontology - which is to say it goes way way back to the fall and is deep deep deep. Like all these sexual sins (lust, fornication, masturbation, pornography, adultery, rape, homesexualism - all of it) which are ubiquitous and deep (ask any confessor), pedophilia is something that can not be answered with surface "solutions"...

    ReplyDelete
  7. what about wifes, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers...?.ECT, ETC,,

    ReplyDelete
  8. Many organizations such as Scouts require two adults with children at all times. It protects the children and the adult. False allegations are made.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Many organizations such as Scouts require two adults with children at all times. It protects the children and the adult. False allegations are made.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Many organizations such as Scouts require two adults with children at all times. It protects the children and the adult. False allegations are made.

    ReplyDelete