Document Archive

Press Release: Office of Communications
15 January 2003

FOR RELEASE
January 15, 2003 - 11:00 A.M.

The Commission on the Protection of
Children and Clerical Conduct

(Philadelphia, PA) The Commission on the Protection of Children and Clerical Conduct has completed its work and submitted its final Report to Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua. The Report is 38 pages long and is organized according to the categories in the Charge submitted to the Commission. It describes existing practices and procedures employed by the Archdiocese relevant to the prevention or handling of matters concerning the sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy. It discusses the legal, medical and theological standards, and the testimony according to which existing practices and procedures were evaluated. About one hundred paragraphs of the total Report contain specific recommendations for the Archdiocese. Some of these overlap, some urge the Archdiocese to continue or expand existing practices and others contain entirely new material.

Throughout, our Report attempts to reflect the conviction of the Commission that the Archdiocese should conform to the "best practices" employed by secular professionals in the area of the sexual abuse of minors; it should also move beyond them to practices reflecting the specific commitment of the Church to the most vulnerable and wounded. The Archdiocese should also attempt to handle all matters concerning clerical sexual abuse with the maximum amount of transparency possible in the situation.

Members of the Commission hope fervently that its Report contributes to the prevention of the sexual abuse of children, to just and compassionate treatment of existing victims and their families, and to confidence among the clergy about the fairness of the processes to be employed whenever an accusation is made. The Commission commends the Archdiocese for inviting us to evaluate seminary screening and formation and the ongoing formation of priests. The resulting wide-ranging recommendations in this Report are intended to lead to the best possible cooperative effort to prevent clerical sexual abuse of children. Thus, the Commission addressed itself not only to the discrete Archdiocesan processes for receiving and responding to complaints, but also to matters such as: fostering a greater ease of reporting by victims; eliminating confusion among victims about the jurisdictional boundaries between diocesan and religious order clergy; encouraging an atmosphere of safe and effective fraternal correction among the clergy; and enlisting lay expertise and support at nearly every stage of the process.

The Commission is very grateful to all those who regularly and generously responded to our constant requests for information. This includes employees of the Archdiocese and the Seminary, who were entirely responsive to our requests, priests and laity from around the Archdiocese and outside of it as well, law enforcement experts, and victims of clerical sexual abuse who were willing to speak with us.