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Pope Benedict XVI apologized again to sex abuse victims during his Mass ending the Year for Priests. As John Allen noted in his report:
Will Pope Benedict's apologies for abuse crisis ever be enough? asks Cathy Lynn Grossman over at her USA Today Faith and Reason blog.
She got one response from the watchdog group BishopAccountability.Org, the first of the victim's groups to roll out a statement.
We just received this statement from the Catholic reform group Call to Action:
“An apology is nothing without correction of the wrong that preceded it. The Vatican must take responsibility for the implementation and enforcement of anti-abuse standards for reporting, prevention and accountability in dioceses worldwide."
Call to Action wants an independent "truth and reconcillation committee" set up.
Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, issued this statement:
The Pope still ignores the crux of the crisis – the on-going recklessness, deceit and callousness of bishops who, even now, protect predators instead of children.
Some speculated that the Pope would, this week, announce a global church abuse policy. He didn’t. He isn’t even promising one.
He did, however, make an oblique exhortation to “do everything possible” to stop abuse. But real “carrots” and “sticks” alter behavior. Substantive structural and cultural change alters behavior. Vague, one sentence pledges don’t.
What does Blaine suggest as a solution? "The root cause of this horrific and on-going clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis remains the nearly limitless power of bishops. The real solution to the scandal must therefore involve reducing the power of bishops ..."
