Dicastery to Address Abuse?

Father Peter Day suggests a certain effort and energy is needed to make headway on the sex abuse and cover-up scandals. A worldwide initiative is suggested, courtesy of Australia’s Eureka Street publication:

(A)mid the thousands of shattered lives, the institutional church is tending towards resuming normal programming while this overwhelming problem corrodes from within.

The Church is desperately in need of a long-term collective, coordinated and global response. Something of similar scope and dedication as the recent translation of the Roman Missal: an intensely focused institutional endeavour that demanded the attention, energy, and gifts of hundreds of church leaders throughout the world.

This is about right. In order for this to really take root, it will probably require something peeled off from the CDF, something on the level of a Roman dicastery. Something with independent reach and authority. Probably something packed with lay people. Something like this is really needed. A gathering of experts in psychology, penance, liturgy, pastoral outreach, and for the sake of contact with bishops, diplomacy.

It is not good enough to adopt a siege mentality by blaming an ‘aggressive anti-Catholic media’. It is not good enough to say ‘that happened a long time ago under someone else’s watch’. It is not good enough to say ‘that’s an Irish problem, that’s a Boston problem’, or that it is ‘disloyal’ to raise these matters publicly.

There has to be a collective, universal response: to remain silent and passive is to perpetuate the effects of the abuse on both victims and the Church.

Yes. I suspect we will have to wait for the next papacy for this to be realized.