‘I’ve read many statements over the years, but this one (Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Sept. 27) statement was something,’ Thorp said. ‘One sentence struck me like a lightning bolt: ‘No one should have to beg for justice in the church.’ I’ll repeat it: ‘No one should have to beg for justice in the church.’
By Dan Stockman, National Catholic Reporter
“Despite more than two decades of efforts to transform the Catholic Church to bring justice to sexual abuse victims and ensure widespread abuse and its cover-up do not happen again, there is much to be done, advocates say.
“Barbara Thorp, a social worker and the former director of Office of Pastoral Support and Child Protection for the Boston Archdiocese, told the National Catholic Conference on Restorative Justice Oct. 6 that while great strides have been made in some areas, shocking examples of failure continue to arise. “Barbara Thorp, a social worker and the former director of Office of Pastoral Support and Child Protection for the Boston Archdiocese, told the National Catholic Conference on Restorative Justice Oct. 6 that while great strides have been made in some areas, shocking examples of failure continue to arise.
“‘The resistance to the necessary institutional changes to ensure justice are in many places not only glacial, but frozen,’ Thorp told several hundred attendees at the conference, which was held Oct. 5-7 at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. ‘Jesus said, ‘You are the light of the world,’ but in practice, it’s more like a 10-watt bulb flickering than the penetrating light of Christ.’”
By Dan Stockman, National Catholic Reporter — Read more …