Organizers of the Vatican’s February meeting on sexual abuse have sent a letter to the participating bishops asking them to meet with abuse victims in advance of the gathering.
“We urge each episcopal conference president to reach out and visit with victim survivors of clergy sex abuse in your respective countries prior to the meeting in Rome, to learn first-hand the suffering that they have endured,” the letter states.
“Absent a comprehensive and communal response, not only will we fail to bring healing to victim survivors, but the very credibility of the Church to carry on the mission of Christ will be in jeopardy throughout the world,” it continues.
The gathering, which will take place Feb. 21-24, 2019, is focused on the protection of minors from sexual abuse within the Church. The pope has asked the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences, and the heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches, to attend.
The bishops were also asked to answer by January 15 a questionnaire attached to the letter for use in internal preparations. Sharing information in advance is meant to facilitate, the letter says, the expression of opinions “constructively and critically,” and to get a full picture of the current situation to see where reform is most needed.
Full story at Catholic News Agency.
Quote from the letter sent by the organizers and contained in the article:
“. . . the very credibility of the Church to carry on the mission of Christ will be in jeopardy throughout the world,”
It is a reasonable inference that the wording was approved by the Holy Father.
However, the credibility of the Church is NOT in jeopardy, since it was established by Jesus Himself. However, the credibility of the leadership who represent the Church, right up to the Holy Father, has already ceased to exist. The irresponsible behavior of those who have been given the gift and responsibility associated with apostolic, episcopal and Petrine succession have already done immense harm to Holy Mother Church. The Church is the “Bride of Jesus…
This, this, THIS! All the way up to the top! They are in pure damage control mode to cover their rears. They are not seeking solutions for the benefit of the church nor God’s people.
If there are to be meetings before the February meeting, the bishops of Illinois better get busy if this latest development is true:
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/illinois-attorney-general-500-unreported-cases-of-priest-abuse1
Regardless of wheter or not the bishops meet with victims prior to the February meeting in Rome, it won’t change the events which have already bee set in motion at the civil and criminal levels:
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/feds-closing-in-on-the-church
The year 2019 will ne a year of reckoning for the Church in the United States.
The problem of the disorder of “same-sex attraction is not limited to the Catholic Church. See link below:
https://www.ebar.com/news/crime//269118?ch=news&sc=crime&%23038;sc2=&%23038;id=269118