Spotlight and it implications

Archbishop Kurtz, current President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, offers his thoughts on the movie Spotlight.

I reiterate the statement I made in 2010.  The media was one of the major forces pushing the Church to respond in a way that it had failed to do up to that point, and we are better for it.  As a result of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (see here), approved by the U.S. Bishops in 2002, a nationwide network of victim assistance and safe environment training was created that serves us well today.  The Charter directs the following issues:

• Creating a safe environment for children and young people.
• Healing and reconciliation of victims and survivors.
• Making prompt and effective reports to the authorities.
• Cooperating with civil authorities.
• Disciplining offenders.
• Maintaining an effective response system within the Church (Victim Assistance Coordinators and Sexual Abuse Review Board)

– See his full statement

What is the Eastern Province doing?

On September 9, 2009 our Province adopted a revised Code for Ministerial Behavior in which each Confrere was required to familiarize himself with this Policy and agreed to abide by it. 

In addition, the Eastern Province was reaccredited in November 2013 by Praesidium, Inc., the agency recommended by the Conference of Major Superiors regarding child protection. 

And of course, behind the Praesidium certification is the mandate of the United States Bishops that all priests be further educated on this topic and commit to the relevant policies.