首页 新闻 体育 娱乐 游戏 邮箱 搜索 短信 聊天 天气 答疑 导航


新浪首页 > 新浪教育 > 1,000 victims of abuse by clergy

1,000 victims of abuse by clergy
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/07/25 11:33  Shanghai Daily

  An in-depth examination of sexual abuse in the Boston Archdiocese in the United States found that Roman Catholic priests and other workers probably molested more than 1,000 people over six decades.

  "The mistreatment of children was so massive and so prolonged that it borders on the unbelievable," Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly said on Wednesday as he issued a report with the findings.

  The report ends a 16-month investigation by Reilly's office and a grand jury session that was convened last summer to consider charging church leaders.

  The extent of abuse outlined in the report dwarfs what's been found in other dioceses. Still, while the document provides a comprehensive look at what Catholic officials knew, when they knew it and how they covered it up, Reilly said he was hamstrung by state laws that were too weak to allow criminal charges to be filed against the hierarchy.

  Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned last December, "bears the ultimate responsibility for the tragic treatment of children that occurred during his tenure," Reilly said in the 76-page report.

  The cardinal was aware of the abuse even before he arrived in Boston as archbishop in 1984, and he and his inner circle were actively informed about complaints against numerous priests. But with only rare exceptions did any of Law's senior assistants advise him to take steps that would put a halt to what became the systematic abuse of children, Reilly said.

  "The choice was very clear, between protecting children and protecting the church. They made the wrong choice," he said. "In effect, they sacrificed children for many, many years."

  Reilly warned that the arch-diocese's new abuse policy, announced in May, is insufficient to guarantee the safety of children. The attorney general said the archbishop retains too much control over investigations, discipline and members of a lay review board.

  Members of Voice of the Faithful, a lay reform group organized after the abuse scandal broke, called for resignations of church leaders implicated in the report. The group's president, Jim Post, called the report "a chilling picture" of how leaders betrayed children and the church.

  The Reverend Christopher Coyne, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the church has already taken "substantial steps" to prevent child abuse. Law's successor, archbishop-elect Sean Patrick O'Malley, is to be installed next week and has pledged to heal the fractured archdiocese.

  The archdiocese itself documented 789 allegations of sexual abuse made against 237 priests and 13 other church workers from 1940 to 2000.

  When evidence from other sources was included, the number of victims rose to at least 1,000.




英语学习论坛】【评论】【 】【打印】【关闭
Annotation

新闻查询帮助



文化教育意见反馈留言板电话:010-62630930-5178 欢迎批评指正

新浪简介 | About Sina | 广告服务 | 招聘信息 | 网站律师 | SINA English | 会员注册 | 产品答疑

Copyright © 1996 - 2003 SINA Inc. All Rights Reserved

版权所有 新浪网
北京市通信公司提供网络带宽