Church cannot let up in fight against sexual abuse of young

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan in the "Herald of Hope" column in the April 24, 2008 issue of "our" Milwaukee Catholic Herald begins with a reference to Pope Benedict XVI's visit.

Whether or not Pope Benedict XVI was aware that April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month, I do not know.

But our Archbishop goes on to detail our Pope's remarks, including,

of shame, regret, and sorrow that God's favorite people, our children and youth, were terribly harmed in soul, mind, and body by those who dared claim they were God's agents, and that bishops were faulty in a response that should have been immediate, strict and transparent;

Faulty; you know, mistakes were made, these things were looked at differently in that distant age, they meant well, etc.. Not faulty in a San Andreas, millstone-tossing, or sackcloth and ashes sense.

No wonder his church, which here in America has been shamed by some of its priests, deacons, sisters, and bishops, however few, would now be considered a leader in promoting the reform necessary to reduce it.

If our bishops say so themselves, and over and over again. Are they trying to convince us or themselves?

Yes, in the words of a leading expert in sexual abuse, Dr. Paul McHugh of Johns Hopkins University, "No one in the United States is now doing more to deal with this horror than the Catholic Church."

There's more on Dr. Paul McHugh at the U.S. Bishops Office of Media Relations.