By Barbara Blaine

While SNAP folks are on the ground in Rome and over 10,000 priests are converging there I saw this article about the priest’s meeting in America magazine. Here is the link:
http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&entry_id=2986

It seems to me they are missing a key element. I sent this to the magazine as a comment.

“Promises are usually easy to make, hard to keep, and broken often if there’s no oversight or penalties. That’s crucial to keep in mind with church abuse policies in an institution with no checks and balances or real accountability mechanisms. And that’s why such policies, even now, in the US and elsewhere, are so frequently ignored.”

For many weeks we have heard from different sources that the Vatican may issue a new policy regarding abusive priests and clergy. If such a document is promulgated, we’ll be scrutinizing it to see if there is any indication that those who fail to follow the policy will be punished. Our experience in the United States has been that those who violate the church policy are not punished and receive no consequences. If anything, after seemingly violating the policy church officials even receive promotions. One example that comes to mind is the experience of the priest, Father Dan McCormick in Chicago. Here’s a link to a story explaining what happened to the church officials here who allowed the predator to work with children.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/01_02/2008_01_24_Hogan_TheCardinal.htm

We’ll keep watching for what comes next!