This coming week begins the long awaited summit on clerical sex abuse at the Vatican. February 21-24, presidents and other representatives of the worlds nearly 130 Catholic bishops’ conferences will gather in Rome, and we need to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all those who will be present.
In recent weeks, the Vatican has sought to downplay expectations for the event, labeling the media hype of it as “excessive.” Yet the fact remains that after nearly a year of ongoing sex abuse scandals that have shaken the Church and many of us to our core, survivors and many faithful Catholics are increasingly impatient for results.
Our own Archdiocese recently released the results of an independent review of credible allegations of clergy in our own Archdiocese over many decades. This is a welcome sign of transparency, yet still a troubling admittance. What more should we expect?
While the Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis will attend the summit in its entirety, it is still unknown who else will be on hand. Thankfully survivors have been invited to attend as well as specialists on the subject. The heads of all bishops’ conferences are invited, and Pope Francis has requested that all of them meet survivors of clergy abuse as “a concrete way of ensuring that victim survivors of clerical abuse are first and foremost in the minds of all at the February gathering as they come together ‘in solidarity, humility and penitence’ to move forward in addressing the abuse crisis,” said a letter from the summit’s steering committee. It would hope that the input and the cries of the victims and the stories of their abuse be prominently evident during these days to those in attendance.
Each day of the summit will have a particular focus: Responsibility, accountability and transparency. Pope Francis is seeking both a comprehensive understanding of past failings as well as global solutions moving forward. This should serve as a caution for us as we remember the universality of our Church. This summit is meant to identify global solutions to the crisis and to emphasize the global nature of the problem, particularly where clergy abuse has yet to become an issue.
Even though the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have had a strong charter in place since 2002 to prevent such abuse, only about half of national bishop conferences have adopted Vatican approved guidelines. I hope the voices of the faithful and victims will help to light a fire under the bishops’ conferences that have failed to enact such guidelines, or to implement them, and we should pray that this would be one of the outcomes of the gathering. Let’s also hope that any Church leaders who don’t realize the scope of the abuse problem may be made painfully aware.
What we can all do is pray and pray very hard in the days and weeks ahead. I would invite you to join me in praying for the Spirit’s gifts of wisdom and understanding, of fortitude and piety to be with all those in attendance. While we might have high expectations and hopes for this summit, above all let us remember that God will protect His Church. I hope and pray that God also helps us all to heal and rebuild as well.
God bless,
Fr. Jerry
