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Child and Youth Protection and Safety | F-1
The
Charter for the Protection of Children and Young
People
, adopted by the bishops of the United States
in 2002 and last revised in 2011, is a foundational
document for the protection of children and young
people in the Church’s pastoral care. In the
Charter,
the bishops state, “Let there now be no doubt or
confusion on anyone’s part: For us, your bishops, our
obligation to protect children and young people and
to prevent sexual abuse flows from the mission and
example given to us by Jesus Christ himself, in whose
name we serve.”
To assist in the realization of this promise, the
bishops promulgated in December 2002 the
Essential
Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing with
Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests or
Deacons
. This document, also revised in 2011, con-
stitutes particular ecclesiastical law for all dioceses,
eparchies, clerical religious institutes, and societies
of apostolic life in the United States with respect to
all priests and deacons in the ecclesiastical minis-
try of the Church in the United States. Norms and
policies for these juridic and physical persons con-
cerning the protection of minors are to be developed
in line with the provisions of the
Essential Norms
.
The
Charter,
the
Essential Norms
, and particular and
proper norms and policies, in turn, are applied in
accord with the universal law of the Church.
Other chapters of the
Guidelines
discuss the
many logistical and administrative issues surround-
ing the reception of international pastoral ministers.
This chapter highlights issues of particular concern
with regard to the reception of international pas-
toral ministers and the protection of children and
young people.
In May 2011, the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith issued a
Circular Letter
to assist episcopal
conferences throughout the world with developing
guidelines or policies regarding the protection of
minors. The letter requires each episcopal confer-
ence that has not already done so to develop child
protection policies that address several topics, such
as care for victims, cooperation with civil author-
ities, formation of ministers, and the process to
be used to resolve allegations. The United States
remains one of very few countries whose bishops
have promulgated particular law concerning cleri-
cal sexual abuse of minors. Most others have issued
guidelines or policies that vary in their binding force
and in the provisions that they make regarding the
protection of children and young people. So, too,
the manner in which policies are applied varies from
country to country. For instance, not all episcopal
conferences have mandated criminal background
checks for all clergy, paid personnel, and volunteers,
whose duties include ongoing, unsupervised contact
with children.
Because of this diversity, international pastoral
ministers received into the United States will come
with differing backgrounds and experiences regard-
ing child and youth protection. At the same time,
while serving in the United States they must take
into account and abide by the requirements of the
Charter,
the
Essential Norms
, and particular and
proper norms or policies as well as civil law. This
means that international pastoral ministers should
be well educated in the expectations and require-
ments regarding child and youth protection. This
can be done through preexisting programs estab-
lished for this purpose in dioceses, eparchies, insti-
tutes, or societies. However, special attention should
be paid to several areas where there might exist dif-
ferences in policies or practices between the United
States and some other countries.
Sexual Abuse of a Minor
The first area that deserves special attention concerns
the fundamental question of what constitutes sexual
abuse of a minor. The universal law of the Church
states that it is an ecclesiastical crime for a cleric to
commit a sin against the Sixth Commandment of
the Decalogue with a person under the age of eigh-
teen or with someone who habitually has the use
of diminished reason (see
Sacramentorum Sanctitatis
Tutela
, art. 6). The Church’s universal law does not
provide a list of what acts would fit under this cat-
egory. For this reason, ministers received into this
country should be made aware of what constitutes
sexual abuse and other prohibited behaviors.
In a similar way, universal ecclesiastical law pro-
vides for punishment of clerics for the production,
distribution, or possession of images of minors under
the age of fourteen for purposes of sexual gratifica-
tion (see
Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela
, art. 6).
However, the state and federal laws of the United
Child and Youth Protection and Safety