EDITORIAL PROGRESS OVER YEAR: We will not reiterate here what we took 12 pages to present elsewhere this week ("Abuse: Crisis and Healing," in the print edition of The Evangelist, with selected articles on this web site). But we would like to summarize those pages in order to outline how far the Diocese of Albany has come since the U.S. bishops passed their "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" last June in Dallas. Moving quickly after Dallas, the Diocese (among other actions) apologized for its failures...hired people to investigate abuse allegations and bring healing to victims...strengthened its ten-year-old policy on abuse...appointed an independent review board to look into accusations...and trained thousands of Catholics to prevent abuse. Catholics should take pride that their Diocese has been and continues to be a leader in carrying out the Charter in an efficient and effective manner. Anyone reading our special section this week will come away with a sense of relief and renewal. The crisis has been met, and healing has begun -- not only for many victims and their families but also for innocent priests and Catholics at large. (6/19/03) |