Sunday, June 13, 2010

COMMENTARY: Catholic Church Must Act to End Rampant Child Molestations by Priests

Pope Benedict XVI begged for forgiveness from clerical abuse victims last week, and promised to "do everything possible" to ensure priests never molest children again.

The Pope made the pledge at a Mass in St. Peter's Square, following revelations of hundreds of new cases of clerical abuse, cover-up, and Vatican inaction to root out pedophiles.

The Pope did not say how he intends to end clerical abuse. Nonetheless, there are various actions the Catholic Church should take to end -- or at least significantly decrease -- the molestation of children by priests.

One action would be to have Catholic seminaries require at least one course for all students on the prevention of child abuse. Such a course would inform prospective priests -- before they are even ordained -- of the seriousness and prevention of child abuse.

Another step the church should take is to unfrock a priest who has committed child molestation. The current church practice of transferring pedophile priests to other parishes is really ineffective, since these priests tend to continue their abusive behavior in their newly-assigned parishes.

Finally, the church bishops and other hierarchs should not "look the other way" and pretend that no problem exists, but rather must take swift action against priests who are abusive.

The Catholic Church, then, must adopt the three actions indicated above, in order to end its rampant clerical abuse.

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