"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
Hearing those words, which one of us fails to think of the scourge of the sexual abuse of children, and the horror of God’s judgement on the unrepentant sinner: “it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck.”
Especially in these days, as the Church seems to be drowning in a storm of righteous indignation at those priests have molested children and those Bishops who have covered it up.
The sexual abuse of children is widespread in our society, with some suggesting that one third of all girls and one fifth of all boys will be molested before they reach the age of 18. Other studies report that as much as two-thirds of all sexual abuse takes place within the family, while the U.S. Department of Education predicts that 10% of all school children will be abused by a teacher or school employee before they graduate.
The Catholic Church has worked hard to stamp out the crime and and sin of the sexual abuse of children as we continue to strive to correct the actions of the past and keep each child safe with better practices and procedures. In the mid-1970’s, as many as 4% of priests were reported as abusers. Last year seven priests in our country were accused of current abuse (that’s seven priests out of about 37,000 of us nationwide) But the only acceptable number is 0. Zero priests. Zero fathers. Zero uncles. Zero scout leaders. Zero teachers. Zero coaches.
Which is why we must never grow tired of finding new ways to keep our children safe. Through screening and training of each and every Church employee and volunteer, through rapid reporting of each allegation to the police and through stringent application of Codes of Professional Conduct.
Last week, in writing to all our Cathedral employees and volunteers as part of an effort to make sure our child protection policies were uniformly applied, I quoted Pope Francis who reinforced the, “conviction that everything possible must be done to rid the Church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors…”
For the life of a child is sacred, and the dignity of their life is beyond measure. And woe to whoever causes harm to one of these little ones.
