English, Welsh bishops ask Catholics to atone for abuse

(April 23, 2010) The bishops of England and Wales are asking Catholics to carry out acts of penance each Friday in May to help atone for clerical abuse crimes. In a statement to be read at all parishes April 24-25, the bishops assured Catholics that effective child protection procedures are in place. However, they said, it is "time for deep prayer and reparation for atonement" of the sins of priests and other Catholics who have abused children. "We invite Catholics in England and Wales to make the four Fridays in May 2010 special days of prayer," the bishops said in their statement, released on Thursday. They recommended visiting the Blessed Sacrament to pray for victims, their abusers and for church leaders who mishandled cases. The Catholic Church in England and Wales revised its child protection procedures in 2001 after it emerged that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, when bishop of Arundel and Brighton in the 1990s, had re-assigned notorious child abuser Father Michael Hill as chaplain of London's Gatwick Airport, despite receiving credible abuse allegationd against him. Father Hill went on to abuse again, and one of his victims was a 14-year-old boy confined to a wheelchair because he had cerebral palsy. The priest was jailed for five years.