Bishop Robert W. McElroy gathered all 2,500-plus employees of the San Diego Catholic Diocese for the first time since it was formed in 1936 to announce an expansion of the fight against the sexual abuse of children not just within the local Church but in the greater society, where most of it occurs.
The Bishop:
- Called on every employee of the diocese to report child abuse they suspected was occurring, not just so-called mandated reporters obligated by law to do so, such as teachers and priests.
- Extended the effort to fight sexual child abuse beyond the Church, calling on all employees to report abuse wherever they suspected it was occurring in the greater society, where most of the crime occurs.
- Announced the formation of a task force to develop programming to raise awareness among the diocese’s families at schools and parishes of the epidemic of child abuse and what they could do to prevent it and to help its victims to heal.
- Announced two new policies regarding communication and social media to advance the protection of minors at the diocese. One prohibits all employees, including clergy, from communicating privately with minors they met through their work in the Church without copying their parents or guardians. The other prohibits all employees, also including clergy, to have direct interaction on any personal social media account with any individual minor they met through their work.
“We cannot erase the horror of the Church’s history, nor can we restore the shattered souls and hearts and lives of those we have been victimized,” the Bishop said. “But we can move forward as Pope Francis calls us to, utterly resolved to continually expel the sexual abuse of minors from he internal life of the Church, and equally resolved to help transform families and society to purge the epidemic of sexual abuse that rages in our midst.”
The full text of Bishop McElroy’s remarks to the employees of the diocese is found at safeinourdiocese.org.
Full story at sdcatholic.org.
“We cannot erase the horror of the Church’s history” but, you can name those who recently have been accused of sexual abuse.
Promoting modest dress and self restraint might help.
Excellent point!
I believe all Dioceses have been very active updating published lists of those accused of sex abuse.
I understand the State of New York had a one year unlimited lookback period on sex abuse allegations. Apparently this will allow those victims previously statute barred from filing an accusation to file.
Thank God we have a Catholic Bishop who recognizes the problem and is taking proactive measures to stop sex abuse in the Church. May God continue to bless Bishop McElroy!
The American Bishops hired a public relations firm to guide them on deflecting real responsibility from them to some diffuse group. McElroy is simply following the game plan to deflect.
As everyone knows, the sexual crimes have been committed by bishops and priests, and those crimes became known to the bishops who failed to notify the District Attorney or police.
Case in point—Archbishop McCarrick—favorite bishop of the hard Left. Today in New York over 400 cases have been filed—-not against the “Church” or the “Catholic Faithful” but against priests and bishops.
The good Catholics of San Diego need to organize and demand that McElroy step down!
Outrageous.
McElroy deliberately, and I think, maliciously, deflects the blame.to “employees.”
He knows that the real problem has been primarily homosexual bishops and priests and their cover-up — guys like ex-Archbishop Ted McCarrick and Bishop Rembert Weakling and Roger Mahony.
There ought to be massive resignations by almost all current bishops and archbishops in the United States.
Jackie, it is true that some bishops have been seriously at fault, but what you might not understand is that ANYBODY can be accused of abuse, even falsely. Many teachers and workers in public and private schools were told in the past not to even touch one of the students unless they absolutely had to do so to protect them from themselves or to protect others — no hugs for, no lap sitting for kindergartens unless one was related to the child. Children often see way too much now on television or even in their own home environment. Also if a child or teen does not like how an adult reprimands him/her, he/she can make up stories to get the adult in trouble.
I should clarify that the past I mentioned was about fifteen years ago when teachers and instructional assistants were able censer what they taught the students, and parents were allowed to opt their children out of the more pornographic sex ed. I have been told by some school employees that have recently retired how appalled they are at what is being taught in some of the classrooms now.
The dissembling of this bishop beggars belief. The throw-away phrase, “in greater society, where most of the crimes occur”, exposes the deception of conscience and the modus operandi of McElroy and others. We are talking about the sexual abuse of minors and adults by homosexual predatory clergy in the Catholic Church, PERIOD. In actuality, there should never be any sexual malfeasance by consecrated men, ever! To lecture the lay SD diocesan employees is an absolute outrage. Instead of browbeating his lay employees, McElroy should focus on the sexual morality of the priests in his diocese.
While “we cannot erase the horror of the Church’s history, nor can we restore the shattered souls and hearts and lives of those we have been victimized,” the bishop could stop admitting homosexual men, even those who identify as “gay,” into the seminary and priesthood, as the Church teaches.
It is unjust to suggest that all of the American Bishops need to resign as not all of them are guilty of a coverup or of other crimes with regards to the sex abuse crisis. A blanket condemnation of all of the Bishops undoubtedly unfairly condemns some who are innocent.
empty words
nobody is listening anymore
doesn’t he know this?