Media director for U.S. Bishops: UN child protection report "a lost opportunity"
(Vatican Radio) Sister Mary Ann Walsh, the Director of Media Relations for the USCCB,
has described a recent report from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the
Child as a “lost opportunity.”
The UN report was highly critical of the Church’s
handling of cases of abuse of children. “Sexual abuse of a minor is a sin and a crime
and no organization can become complacent about addressing it,” said Sr Walsh. She
emphasized, however, that “the Catholic Church has certainly done more than any other
international organization to face the problem and it will continue to lead in doing
so.”
She highlighted efforts both in the United States and at the Vatican to
eliminate cases of sexual abuse by the clergy and to bring offenders to justice. She
also pointed out efforts by the Church to support victims of abuse.
The UN’s
report, Walsh said, “is weakened by including objections to Catholic teaching on such
issues as gay marriage, abortion and contraception.” These objections, she said, “seem
to violate the U.N.’s obligation from its earliest days to defend religious freedom.”
Sister
Walsh said UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child “is correct to voice concern
over sexual abuse,” and commended their efforts. “It would have credibility, however,
if it also worked to protect the most basic right of a child: the right to live...
When the U.N. committee strays into the culture wars to promote abortion, contraceptives
and gay marriage, it undermines its noble cause and trades concern for children to
concern for organizations with other agendas. What a lost opportunity.”
Read
the full text of Sister Mary Ann Walsh’s latest blog:
The United
Nations: Caring for Children or Caring for Culture Warriors
By Sister
Mary Ann Walsh
Sexual abuse of a minor is a sin and a crime and no organization
can become complacent about addressing it. The Catholic Church has certainly done
more than any other international organization to face the problem and it will continue
to lead in doing so.
In the United States, the number of cases of sexual abuse
of minors by clergy has plummeted. This is in no small part due to the fact that millions
of Catholic children have been instructed on safe environments and tens of thousands
of adults who work with them in the church have gone through background checks and
safe environment education. In 2012, for example, dioceses and religious institutes
conducted background checks on 99 percent of clerics, 97 percent of educators, 95
percent of employees, and 96 percent of volunteers. Every diocese has a victim assistance
coordinator who assists those who have been abused and a safe environment coordinator
who works to prevent abuse from occurring again.
The Vatican also has shown
resolve in addressing the issue. Pope John Paul II changed the age of maturity in
church law so more abuse cases could be prosecuted. Pope Benedict called on every
bishops’ conference in the world to develop policies. Pope Francis recently announced
a commission to strengthen the church’s handling of sexual abuse.
A report
from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child highlights the problem
of sexual abuse of minors by clergy. Unfortunately the report is weakened by including
objections to Catholic teaching on such issues as gay marriage, abortion and contraception.
This seems to violate the U.N.’s obligation from its earliest days to defend religious
freedom. In 1948, the organization adopted its Universal Declaration of Human Rights
that declared that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”
Certainly the U.N. charge to defend religious freedom includes defending the Church’s
right to determine its own teachings. Defense of religious freedom is no small matter
in a world where people, including children, get murdered for simply going to church.
That’s what happened last September when militants killed 81 people, including children,
attending Sunday school at a Christian church in Peshawar, Pakistan.
The Committee
on the Rights of the Child is correct to voice concern over sexual abuse and is to
be commended for its efforts. It would have credibility, however, if it also worked
to protect the most basic right of a child: the right to live. Would that it made
headlines because of concern for minors being trafficked in the world’s sex trade
and children dying from starvation and dysentery from impure water. When the U.N.
committee strays into the culture wars to promote abortion, contraceptives and gay
marriage, it undermines its noble cause and trades concern for children to concern
for organizations with other agendas. What a lost opportunity.