The eight-year-old who wasn\u2019t there: That was one of the most important people involved in last week\u2019s impressive two-day conference at Eckstein Hall on dealing with clergy sex abuse scandals.<\/p>\n
The Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland, the Most Reverend Diarmuid Martin, brought the eight-year-old into the conference.<\/p>\n
Of course, no children were literally present. But Archbishop Martin, who has attracted substantial international attention for his strong stands in the aftermath of large-scale scandals in Dublin, recounted how he had a bit of time before a program at a school he was visiting. The principal asked if there was anything he wanted to see. He said he wanted to visit a class of eight-year-olds.<\/p>\n
The reason, he said, was that he wanted to look at their faces and underscore in his own mind their images. When people deal with issues related to the scandals, they tend to see the victims as the adults they are when what happened to them comes to light, the archbishop said. He said, \u201cIt is important to see the face of eight-year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n
When dealing with the issue of sex abuse, it is the images of the victims, both as children and adults, that should come to mind first, not the images of clergy members or the situation of the church overall, Martin said.<\/p>\n
That was one of the key messages of the conference, \u201cHarm, Hope, and Healing: International Dialogue on the Clergy Sex Scandal.\u201d The sessions, the Law School\u2019s annual Restorative Justice Initiative conference for this year, brought together experts from around the world and attracted wide attention, particularly in the Catholic press.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Martin was forceful in describing the degree to which church leaders in Ireland had allowed abusive situations to fester. Numerous priests victimized thousands of children, he said, while church leaders either turned blind eyes or responded ineffectively. For example, he recounted how one priest had a swimming pool where he took children. Other children would make fun of those children, he said, while the situation continued for years. \u201cThe children on the street knew, but those in charge seemed not to notice,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Archdiocese of Dublin got it spectacularly wrong.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
During a panel discussion of victims and relatives of victims, a Milwaukee-area woman whose son committed suicide years after being abused by a priest, said, \u201cI have a real problem that there haven\u2019t been consequences for priests who abuse children.\u201d Her son\u2019s abuser was transferred to another school, she said, and church leaders in general have often treated abusers too gently. \u201cThere has to be more accountability,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n
Marie Donahue, retired deputy superintendent of the Boston Police Department and a survivor of abuse herself, said, \u201cDo something.\u201d Stop being sorry for the priests who are perpetrators, she said, and \u201cstop being so gentle with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Church leaders who took part in the conference generally agreed that stronger stands need to be taken to assure that the Catholic Church does what is right and moral.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t get this right, we might as well close up shop\u201d in terms of \u00a0moral authority, said the Most Reverend Blase J. Cupich, Bishop of Spokane and chairman of the U.S. Bishops\u2019 Committee on Protection of Children and Young People. \u00a0Cupich said the stories told by victims \u201ctouched us a very soul-searching level.\u201d<\/p>\n
The risk before the church now, he said, is complacency or even regression after years of revelations about clergy abuse. The church, he said, should \u201calways go back to the most visceral level\u201d of reacting to how terrible abuse is when determining what actions to take. \u00a0It must demonstrate that it is keeping its promises to deal strongly with ending abuse.<\/p>\n
Ian Elliott, chief executive officer of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland, said, \u201cIf you safeguard the children in the church, you will safeguard the church itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Janine P. Geske, distinguished professor of law at the Law School and the central figure in organizing the conference, said at the end of the two days that when you truly hear what is being said by victims and those trying to help heal the damage that abuse has done, \u201cit\u2019s a holy moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
By that definition, the two days were full of holy moments that carried with them renewed commitment to hope and healing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The eight-year-old who wasn\u2019t there: That was one of the most important people involved in last week\u2019s impressive two-day conference at Eckstein Hall on dealing with clergy sex abuse scandals. The Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland, the Most Reverend Diarmuid Martin, brought the eight-year-old into the conference. Of course, no children were literally present. 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