How it Will be Observable

• The Church will publicly and in writing state that they were responsible for the abuse of countless children and adults and that the abuse was not the fault of the victims, and that the shame belongs only to those who did the abuse and those who covered it up.

• The Church will likewise acknowledge responsibility for the countless secondary victims of abuse.

• The Church will release any and all orders, both past and present that have required survivors to be silent and will not require silence in future cases.

• Members of the hierarchy, priests, Church employees and volunteers will attend yearly training offered by outside professionals on the State Mandatory Reporting Laws.

• Members of the hierarchy, priests, Church employees and volunteers will attend yearly training offered by outside professionals on power dynamics and the ways that power can be used to do good or to do harm.

• Members of the hierarchy, priests, Church employees and volunteers will attend yearly child abuse trainings offered by outside professionals.

• The Church will establish and implement a policy that insures that the mandatory reporting requirements are being followed.

• The Church will offer trainings to parishes, Catholic schools and other Church-run organizations on ways to protect and empower both children and adults.

• The Church will consistently speak out against the abuse of children and adults.

• The Church will provide resources in their weekly bulletins for those people and their families who have been and/or who are being abused.

• The Church will take perpetrators and anyone who has knowingly failed to report suspected abuse of children or adults off their payroll.

SAFETY: 

REFORM ACTION 1:     The Church will create an environment of safety for children, adults and all who enter.

How it Will be Observable

• Candidates for seminary, as well as potential Church employees and volunteers will be put through extensive screenings, modeled after other agencies that are also mandated reporters.  This will include yearly CORI checks.

• Current bishops, priests, Church employees and volunteers will submit to CORI checks.

• No person with a history of abusive behavior will be allowed to work for the Church.

• No cardinal, bishop, priest, Church employee or volunteer will be alone with a child.

• All people who are receiving pastoral counseling will first receive a document that outlines their rights and responsibilities and what they should and should not expect from the person providing the pastoral counseling.  Included in this document will be the fact that the person that is providing the counseling is a Mandated Reporter of abuse.

• When children or adolescents are receiving pastoral counseling they and their parents or guardians will be given a similar document.

• All cardinals, bishops, priests, Church employees and volunteers will engage in an internal process to address power dynamics specifically related to their own positions.  The goal of this process will be for participants to understand power dynamics, how power was and is abused, and ways to use it in positive and healing ways.

• The Church will require all convicted sex offenders to register as such and will support notification of the public as a way to increase the safety of all children, regardless of their religion.

• The Church will create its own “Registry” of credible allegations of abuse by a clergy, Church employee or volunteer, as determined by an Independent Review Board.  When a case has been settled, names of the accused will be listed in the “Registry,” and the Church will yearly inform the laity how to access the information.

REFORM ACTION 2:  The Church will create its own supervised homes or institutions whereby abusive clergy can live out their lifetime.

How it Will be Observable

• The Church will only allow convicted or self-disclosed abusive clergy to be part of their Church if they, upon completion of their sentence or self-disclosure, agree to go to one of these homes or institutions.

• The Church will monitor all residents of such a home/institution.

• The Church will not allow any resident to go anywhere outside the home/institution without the accompaniment of a non-offending companion who is knowledgeable in the behaviors of sexual crimes.

• The Church will not allow any resident to be around any children.

• The Church will not allow any resident to offer pastoral support to any adult.

• The Church, with the help of survivors and professional who work with people who sexually abused children and adults, will develop policies that will decrease the risk of abuse.

INDEPENDENT OUTREACH & ADVOCACY

These recommendations are in no way meant to replace The Office for Pastoral Support and Outreach but rather are meant to meet the needs of those survivors who would find it too painful and/or triggering to seek support from an office established by the Church.

REFORM ACTION 1:  An Independent Outreach and Advocacy Program will be implemented.

How it Will be Observable

·         The Church will become a “third party payer.”

·         No survivor will have to go to the Church for financial assistance.

·         The Church will agree to an outside agency determining eligibility, not unlike mental health centers determine the need for counseling and notify the insurance company.  (Note:  Susan Gallagher and others have been working diligently on this and have major outside agencies involved and supportive.  This initiative supports their recommendations.)

·         The Church will reimburse survivor’s money already spent on therapy and other survivor-related expenses, including medications prescribed to support their healing process.

·         The Church will pay for therapy for all victims (including those who had cases and have already settled) for as long as they need it.

·         The Church will pay for therapy for secondary victims, including, but not limited to, parents, siblings and significant others.

·         The Church will not use survivor’s records against them.

·         The Church will pay for medical costs for medical conditions associated with the abuse.

·         The Church will pay for in-patient treatment for survivors when necessary.

REFORM ACTION 2:  The Church will give a lump sum of money to fund a healing center.

How it Will be Observable

• The Church will set up an endowment to be used to fund a healing center for survivors of clergy abuse.

• The Church’s only role will be funding this healing center.

• Church hierarchy will acknowledge and defer to an outside Board of Directors named by survivors and made up of survivors and people from the professional trauma community.

• Church hierarchy will recognize and respect the power of the Board to hire and fire.

LEGISLATIVE & LEGAL:

REFROM ACTION 1:   Call for repeal of Statute of Limitations.

How it Will be Observable

• The Church hierarchy will support the repeal of the Statue of Limitations.

• The Church hierarchy will, through their media outlets, Church bulletins and the pulpit, clearly state that the Archdiocese of Boston supports the repeal of the Statue of Limitations.

REFORM ACTION 2:  Civil and criminal cases will be treated with ethics and morality.

How it Will be Observable

• The Church will release all personnel files of accused priests, Church employees and volunteers.

• The Church hierarchy and their lawyers will immediately stop “hard ball” tactics such as blaming the abuse on parents, victims and/or other people, places or things (i.e., Gays, the 60’s, the media).

• They will not bring in outside “experts,” such as Elizabeth Loftus, to discredit survivors.

• They will not bring in survivor behaviors to manipulate the responsibility for the abuse.

REFORM ACTION 3:  Settle cases, providing that people want to settle the cases, without intimidation.

How it Will be Observable

• Church hierarchy and their lawyers will not demand survivor’s silence in any settlement.

• Church hierarchy and their lawyers will not pressure, demean or “guilt trip” a survivor to settle (i.e., survivors will not be told that if they do not settle no one will get anything.  Survivors are individuals and what teach may want in a settlement may vary.  Each should be allowed their own process to the extent their case allows it.)