ITALY: Participants at symposium on child sexual abuse discuss how the Roman Catholic Church can help victims and prevent future cases

Record ID: 334657

  • Title: ITALY: Participants at symposium on child sexual abuse discuss how the Roman Catholic Church can help victims and prevent future cases
  • Date: 10th February 2012
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (FEBRUARY 9, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY PRIEST STANDING AT THE ENTRANCE OF UNIVERSITY VATICAN EMBLEM ON BUILDING ARCHBISHOP SEAN BRADY, PRIMATE OF ALL IRELAND, ARRIVING ENGLISH-SPEAKING DELEGATES AND JOURNALISTS GATHERED IN CIRCLE VARIOUS OF PARTICIPANTS DISCUSSING RESULTS OF SYMPOSIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) SISTER MARIANNE O'CONNOR, FROM IRELAND, SAYING: "The depression on clergy, of good clergy, the loss of the faithful, all of those costs are huge and you know, how do we regain that balance and move forward? It has been a huge cost and not just financially." VARIOUS OF DELEGATES AND JOURNALISTS SEATED IN CIRCLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUXILIARY BISHOP OF DUBLIN, EAMMON WALSH, SAYING: "I think this conference and the e-learning that they are going to follow-up with will give us a network and a way forward that is very hopeful. But this will probably be with us for my lifetime and we better do it right." VARIOUS OF DELEGATES AND JOURNALISTS SEATED IN CIRCLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) FATHER BRENDAN GEARY, FROM SCOTLAND, SAYING: "And that's the danger, that we don't just allow these things we talked about by leaders but at all levels, they're actually put into practice and given expression, and that's where it becomes the base line for the future so it's putting together what's been done in the last 20 years, 30 years, to give a firm base foundation for the future work that continues." VARIOUS OF DELEGATES AND JOURNALISTS SEATED IN CIRCLE (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN AUXILIARY BISHOP OF REGGIO EMILIA LORENZO GHIZZONI, SAYING: "The symposium, we'll see, the guidelines set forth are those of truth, clarity, transparency and above all, putting the victims first and that entire world around the victims which has been hit and injured."
  • Embargoed: 25th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Crime,Religion,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA8VUMOLAYCWKSDYORMP6O16S1R
  • Story Text: A four-day symposium on child abuse by the clergy came to a close in Rome on Thursday (February 9) with church leaders and participants paving the way for improved dialogue and awareness on the issue.
    Called "Towards Healing and Renewal," the summit brought together some 200 people including bishops, leaders of religious orders, victims of abuse and psychologists.
    The participants discussed how the Roman Catholic Church can help victims and prevent future cases of abuse.
    At a closing briefing, delegates praised the open and future-oriented atmosphere.
    "I think this conference and the e-learning that they are going to follow-up with will give us a network and a way forward that is very hopeful", said the auxiliary Bishop of Ireland, Eammon Walsh.
    "It's putting together what's been done in the last 20 years, 30 years, to give a firm base foundation for the future work that continues," added Father Brendan Geary, from Scotland.
    Italian auxiliary bishop Lorenzo Ghizzoni from the northern city of Reggio Emilia said the meeting had come up with clear and just guidelines which focused on the victims' needs.
    "The symposium, we'll see, the guidelines set forth are those of truth, clarity, transparency and above all, putting the victims first and that entire world around the victims which has been hit and injured," he said.
    German participant, professor Jorg Fegert, who heads the child psychiatry department at Ulm University, said he hoped the conference would help restore the reputation of the Catholic Church and re-establish church-goers' trust in the clergy.
    "I think for me, very impressive was that the victims were in the middle of all talks and this is the very new thing, to listen to the victims and to really come back to a position to say the children have to be confident to the church and to everybody and that we have to create an ambiance of child protection and that was very impressive for me," he said.
    German Cardinal Reinhard Marx said the frank and honest tone of the summit was a step forwards for the Church.
    "(The) best results are that this symposium was there, that we have communicated in a very open and truthful atmosphere. It was a spiritual movement," he said.
    At the symposium, the Church unveiled its plans to use the Internet, with a new e-learning centre to help safeguard children and the victims of molestation.
    The learning centre will work with medical institutions and universities to develop what the Church hopes will be a constant response to the problems of sexual abuse.
    Information will be posted in German, English, French, Spanish and Italian and help bishops and other church workers put into place Vatican guidelines to protect children.
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