Unfinished work: Examining 10 years of clergy sex abuse

Unfinished work: Examining 10 years of clergy sex abuse

NCR

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Ten years after widespread news coverage of sexual abuse by priests rocked the U.S. Catholic church, hierarchical response to the continuing crisis indicates the church has “lost its ability to be a self-correcting institution,” Jesuit Fr. Tom Reese told a symposium of experts on clergy abuse Friday. Despite changes in church policy to better investigate abuse, “the problem in the Catholic church today is that the hierarchy has so focused on obedience and control” that it can no longer fix itself, he said.