Catholic anti-abuse charter marks decade

This year marks the 10th anniversary of a major national effort by the Catholic Church to combat child sex abuse.

With the news of a Woodburn priest accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy at his home last week, just how effective has the program been?

The document entitled “The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” was adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002.

In October of that year, the Diocese of Baker published its version.

NewsChannel 21 talked with the local bishop in Bend for his thoughts on the effectiveness of the program.

There are two significant changes the church has made in regards to the sex abuse problem.

One is creating an environment of vigilance — taking note of anything unusual, and the second is changing the training for priests.

Both, according to the Diocese of Baker Bishop Liam Cary, have had a real deterrent value.

“Because children at any time need our protection — they deserve our protection, they have to have our protection,” said Bishop Cary, who took the Bend bishop’s position earlier this year.

Cary himself has been through training to recognize child sex abuse.

In fact, all priests are required to go through, training especially in the wake of the terrible scandals of the last decade.

“We have all the more reason to be very vigilant on their behalf, to make this as difficult to happen, close enough to not happen as possible,” Cary said. “This is something that cannot be kept in the darkness. It has to be brought to light, and everything we do is to try to see that happens.”

He said the church has stood strong and made great strides to protect the innocent including training programs and education classes.

“I think many adults, this is the kind of thing that any adult would benefit from thinking about these things, because this is hardly confined to the Catholic Church,” said Cary.

The bishop said the materials the church provides are very well done.

They’re designed to help people become aware of the dangers and what to do about them when they notice them.

“In the training and formation of priests, to do everything we can to see that if there is a problem coming along that we eliminate it from the beginning,” Cary said. “So that somebody doesn’t become a priest with this inclination.”

While the situation at Penn State dominated headlines for a while, it seems the church has been the main target for some time, and the bishop understands that.

“It needs to be,” Cary said. “It has needed to be targeted, because it’s a complete contradiction of what the church stands for and what Christ stands for.”

Throughout the interview with the bishop, something interesting happened — or, in fact, didn’t happen

“Now you noticed I haven’t quoted Scripture at all here?” Cary said. “This is simple human wisdom.”

Human wisdom that even we as a society need to be aware of.

“I’m very pleased that we’ve faced up to this as honestly as we can, realistically,” Cary said. “I’m sure we are not perfect. I don’t know if anybody’s perfect, but we certainly have come a long way in 10 years.”

On Aug. 30, there will be a gathering of catholic educators who will go through a training program.

It’s a multi-phase course that is directed toward teachers, parents and even children themselves.