Another sexual abuse scandal has rocked the Roman Catholic Church and its effects are being felt in Airdrie and Cochrane. 

Last week, a Grand Jury in Pennsylvania released reports stating that over 1000 children were abused by priests in that state.

Bishop William McGrattan is the leader of the Diocese of Calgary who oversees the parishes in Airdrie and Cochrane and says he’s bothered by these latest incidents.

“The number of individuals who were victims of sexual abuse and were survivors of it was such a large number for that area. We know that it is a reality within the Church universal and also it has been in Canada. We experienced it in the mid-nineties. We continue to experience this, not at the magnitude of Pennsylvania or the past but it’s still an issue we have to deal with.”

McGrattan recently co-wrote a letter along with the other Bishops in Alberta to urge the local Catholic Church community to not keep silent on this matter anymore.

That letter came after Pope Francis I spoke on the matter in his own letter to the Church.

In it, Pope Francis referenced the words of Saint Paul saying “if one member suffers, all suffer with it.”

Here are some excerpts from that letter.

Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient. Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated.

With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives. We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them.

Today we are challenged as the People of God to take on the pain of our brothers and sisters wounded in their flesh and in their spirit. If in the past, the response was one of omission, today we want solidarity, in the deepest and most challenging sense, to become our way of forging present and future history. 

You can read the full text on the Vatican City’s website.

After the letter from the Alberta Bishops was read during Sunday masses recently, Bishop McGrattan says that he heard from parish leaders who were encouraged and discouraged by it.

“Some of the parishioners who met with me after the masses, some came up and expressed their frustration and anger that we haven’t done anything before. Others spoke gratitude that this was the first time that they’ve heard this spoken publicly within the churches. They wanted to assure me of the support that they felt this was a good step forward.”

In that letter, the Alberta Bishops said we share with you a profound sense of disappointment, grief and anger over the actions of people entrusted to act in the name of Christ and guide His Church.

We all have a sacred trust to protect those who are vulnerable, particularly children, and to stand up and speak when we witness that trust betrayed. We cannot run or hide from instances of abuse and harm, and we have no desire to do so.

The full text of that letter can be found on the Calgary Diocese website.

McGrattan, along with Pope Francis said that breaking the silence on sexual abuse is only one part of the solution, that they need to be proactive.

“We also have to assure them that we’re going to deal with any issues that come to us that we’ll deal with them in a way that if it is criminal, we investigate and allow the civil authorities to take over which is part of our policy presently.”

While the Church continues to be met with criticism over this scandal, with some wondering if any action will ever be taken, McGrattan says that they need to do what they can to prevent these incidents from happening and not covering them up if they do.

“It’s a difficult step but truth is what sets us free. If there has been wrongdoing we have to admit responsibility, ask forgiveness and even repentance. We have to ensure that these things will not happen again and we have to put these policies and procedures in place to provide such environments of safety for children and vulnerable adults.”

McGrattan finished by thanking those outside the church who reached out to hear their story and their views on the matter, saying that it helped them break the secrecy that’s been going on for too long on this issue.

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