We Will All Be Held Accountable For the Protection and Care of Our Children

From Dan Conway’s The Good Steward, April 2010

What can we say that hasn’t already been said many, many times before, especially in recent years? The sexual abuse of children is an unspeakable moral evil. Anyone who commits such a heinous crime – especially family members, priests, teachers, coaches, youth workers or others who are entrusted with the care of children – deserves to be punished to the full extent of both civil and Church law.

By now it is common knowledge that many bishops, law enforcement officers, medical professionals and social scientists seriously misunderstood, or grossly underestimated, the nature of this moral evil. Now we know that the abuser cannot be “cured” — or at least that the risks involved in recovery and rehabilitation are too great. Now we know that those who have previously abused children cannot ever be placed in situations that would put children in danger. We know this now — clearly and beyond any doubt. Now we have “zero tolerance” for any behavior that violates the innocence of our children. Now we immediately remove predators from any assignment that would place our children at risk.

We know these things now. Sadly, that was not the case in the past. Not so very long ago, abusers were sent away for treatment. When they returned, if they had repented, and if the appropriate health care professionals recommended it, they were often reassigned — to a parish, a school, or even youth work. Sometimes they were transferred to a different city or diocese, to a place where no one knew them or their histories. Now we know what a grave mistake that was. That would never happen now. Tragically, it happened too often in the past — with the approval of church officials and with the support and encouragement of health care and social service professionals. We are all paying the price for these serious misjudgments. Especially the victim-survivors and their families. Especially the parishes, religious communities and dioceses all over the world where these crimes were committed …

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