Commentary: This grave injustice cries out for legislative remedies, especially since church officials have proven that they will not police themselves.
9,000 pages of abuse related records. Church officials agreed to tighten the way they monitored and reported abusers and five years of unprecedented state oversight of diocesan abuse dealings, including annual audits of their personnel records.
Could Raoul have used any of these legal maneuvers here? I’m no attorney; I have no idea. But I do know, based on three decades of intense involvement in this issue, that “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”is to “advocate on behalf of all of the people of Illinois” and “legislate with members of the General Assembly for new laws.”But he didn’t advocate the passage of a single potential legislative remedy.Instead, in his report, the attorney general devoted almost 50 pages to what must be considered a fool’s errand: suggesting ways the church hierarchy might improve its handling of abuse reports. For instance, Raoul makes the vague recommendation that bishops should “improve child sex abuse allegation intake procedures” and ensure that such staff are “adequately trained.” But prelates have been dealing with abuse reports for ages and have specifically had such personnel in place for at least two decades. If in 2023, these employees are inadequately prepared for these sensitive positions, it’s likely not because a bishop has never given training a thought.Don’t misunderstand me: his proposals are all sound, simple common sense steps. But they’re ones any leaders genuinely concerned about kids’ safety would have voluntarily adopted long ago. And they’re nearly all recommendations that we in Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests have fruitlessly spent years patiently prodding prelates to enact. If Illinois officials are serious about stopping the cover-ups and preventing the crimes, they’ll work less at trying to persuade the six largely intransigent church leaders who run the state’s dioceses. They’ll work more on finding and making tools that can force recalcitrant church officials to do what they refuse to do.In other words, reform advocates have dangled carrots before and gently coaxed bishops toward change for ages. It’s time that those bishops face the stick. The time to give the Catholic hierarchy more time to clean house has long passed. It’s time for lawmakers to do their first duty: protect the safety of Illinois’ most vulnerable citizens, its children. It’s time for the state law enforcement authorities to push harder and try novel approaches. And’s time for governmental leaders to draft and adopt reforms that will help make this happen. David Clohessy is a clergy abuse survivor and was director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests for more than 30 years.
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