Accountability

U.S. members of Congress are calling for action about the slayings of the two Jesuits.

As chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People, Bishop James V. Johnston Jr. urged the prayers in a statement on the 20th anniversary of the USCCB’s “Dallas Charter” addressing “the sin of clergy sexual abuse.”

In early April, nearly 50 college students from across the Archdiocese of Philadelphia gathered at La Salle University for a cross-campus listening session as part of the first phase of the global “Synod on Synodality.”

The papal commission will be working on establishing survivor support services at the level of each national church according to the instructions found in ‘Vos Estis Lux Mundi.’

The dicastery brought together representatives of lay movements and associations to review child protection policies.

When the bishops gather in Baltimore June 11-14 they will have major decisions to make that may determine how quickly they are able to rebuild trust with their fellow Catholics following a series of recent exposes, allegations and scandals regarding bishops themselves.

Pope Francis’ latest effort to help the Catholic Church safeguard its members from abuse and hold its leaders accountable came in the form of a new universal law, “Vos estis lux mundi” (“You are the light of the world”), which takes effect June 1.

During an April 25 talk at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, Steinfels said the clergy sex abuse crisis that engulfed the U.S. church, and has since spread globally, requires understanding it as context for what is happening in the church, society and culture.