Abuse reports are part of moving ahead, Bishop Gregory writes

Published: 2004-02-19

NEW YORK (CNS) -- A study of how the church has handled sexual abuse cases may be painful, but it's a necessary part of moving ahead, said the president of the U.S. bishops' conference in an opinion column in The Wall Street Journal. The study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York being released Feb. 27 will analyze the extent of sexual abuse of minors by U.S. Catholic clergy since 1950. "While its focus is not on individuals, it will contain a portrait in aggregate of the pain and the suffering, the crimes and the sins, encompassed in this outrageous misconduct," said Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in the article in the Feb. 19 Wall Street Journal. He wrote that more than one person has asked him why the bishops requested this study -- "Won't it just be another wound?" Despite being painful, "the church in the United States needs to shine a light on the past to gather as much information as possible about how this dreadful chapter in our history came about," wrote Bishop Gregory, who heads the Diocese of Belleville, Ill. "We cannot change history; but greater and more accurate knowledge will help assure that it is not repeated."

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