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Contact: John Moynihan 617-680-2131, jmoynihan@votf.org
For Immediate Release
Voice of the Faithful Urges Boston Archdiocese To Do
More To Protect Children
Newton MA, March 21, 2006 - The Archdiocese of Boston
has recently released the results of an “audit” of its child
protection programs. “These revealed that four years after the
scandal 90,000 children out of 209,000 have yet to receive the necessary
training. Our Church leaders can do better than that”, said Ray
Joyce, Executive Director of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF).
It should also be noted that passing the audit as it is presently constituted
does not guarantee that child sexual abuse will not continue. The Archdiocese
of Chicago was found to be in “full compliance” in their
last audit and yet the Chicago media is right now full of accounts of
clerical sex abuse and the failure of the Archdiocese to supervise their
priests who were known to be abusers.
VOTF continues to call upon the Archdiocese to release the names of
all credibly accused priests. “Releasing the names of credibly
accused priests is critical to ensuring the safety of children. Training
alone is not sufficient. The public needs to know if a credibly accused
priest is living or working near their school, playground or home”,
said Dorothy Kennedy, Chair of the Boston Area VOTF Council. Kennedy
urged the Archdiocese to establish their own “registry” of
credible allegations of abuse by clergy, as determined by a completely
independent review board, update this registry at least annually and
publish it on the Archdiocesan web site.
VOTF also calls upon the Bishops of Massachusetts to cease their opposition
to and join us in support of legislation extending the Statute of Limitations
for sexual abuse of children currently before the state legislature. “Protect
Children. Not their abusers- not their enablers”, said Joyce.
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VOTF is a worldwide movement of concerned mainstream
Catholics formed in response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The
group’s mission
is to provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which
the Faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance
of the Catholic Church. Its goals are to support survivors of clergy
sexual abuse, support priests of integrity, and shape structural change
within the Catholic Church in full accordance and harmony with Church
teaching
For more information about Voice of the Faithful, visit www.votf.org
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