VATICAN CORNER
Sexual abuse survivor Marie Collins of Ireland, resigned March 1, 2017 from her position on Pope Francis’ Commission for the Protection of Minors. The Commission was set up to help improve measures within the Catholic Church to protect children against sex abuse. She was appointed to the Commission in 2014 and she said at that time that it was vital that “voice of a survivor be in that discussion”. She was one of two Commission members who were victims of clergy abuse. A year earlier, Paul Saunder, the other survivor on the Commission took a leave of absence. Explaining her resignation, Collins described a church bureaucracy that was unwilling to cooperate with the Commission. She said the Commission had not been provided enough resources, had inadequate support staff and faced intense cultural resistance within the Church despite having had the backing of the Pope. She has been critical of the Church’s slow response to issues around clerical sex abuse. She said “there are people in the Vatican who do not want to change or understand the need to change.” The final straw was when she learned that a Vatican department was failing to comply with a basic new recommendation that all correspondence from victims and survivors should receive a response. She said “I find it impossible to listen to public statements about the deep concern in the Church for the care of those whose lives have been blighted by abuse, yet to watch privately as a congregation in the Vatican refuses to even acknowledge their letters.” Another reason for her resignation was the Vatican’s failure to establish a tribunal recommended by the Commission to hold bishops to account when they ignore reports of abuse. Even though the idea was backed by Pope Francis and announced in June, 2015. The tribunal idea was found to have unspecified legal difficulties and was never implemented. Still another reason for her resignation was the refusal to disseminate the “safeguarding guidelines” the Commission had developed for bishops’ conferences around the world. The guidelines were to help bishops draw up their own policies on abuse. Marie Collins was molested by a priest when she was 13 years old. She says “the words the priest had used, to transfer his guilt to me, robbed me of any feeling of self-worth. The constant feeling of guilt led to deep depression, anxiety, and medical treatment. She was 47 before she first spoke of her abuse. Her doctor advised her to warn the Church about this priest. The molesting priest was protected by his superiors. The police investigation was obstructed; eventually the priest admitted his guilt, was brought to justice and jailed. Sean O’Malley, a Boston cardinal who has spearheaded abuse issues, said in a statement “We will certainly listen carefully to all that Marie wishes to share with us about her concerns and we will greatly miss her important contributions as a member of the Commission. He was thankful for Collin’s work and would pray for her and all victims and survivors of sexual abuse.
Sources: theguardian.com, telegraph.co.uk ncronline.org, catholiceducation.org