How can Church ignore abuse survivors' prayers?

One of the Catholic Church's most senior cardinals has admitted that he could have better handled sexual abuse allegations that were brought to him. Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Mumbai, was one of four men who organised a major Vatican conference on child abuse last week.

Yet, reports stated that there were two separate cases where the Cardinal had allegedly failed to respond quickly or offer support to survivors. India's Catholics say there is a culture of fear and silence in the Church regarding sexual abuse by priests.

Since this is intra-community, where people within are voicing a legitimate concern, it needs to be looked into, investigated and, if there is truth to this, a transformation must begin. In this particular report, a woman claimed that her son was denied justice after the parish priest raped him, in spite of the family approaching Gracias. The family then went to the police.

In the same report, it was stated that a woman had approached the Cardinal with accusations of sexual abuse by a priest who conducted retreats and, once again, he took no action until he was forced to. Going beyond the two cases, one hopes that post this Vatican conference, we see an atmosphere where victims are emboldened to speak out. Survivors who are ostracised in such cases suffer even more anguish, aside from the soul-crushing aftermath of the actual assault.

Every parish priest needs to address parishioners with assurances that they will not be shunned, shamed or intimidated for daring to take on the powerful in the clergy, if the reason is legitimate. More importantly, slowly let the culture change, where fear and intimidation of any nature fall away. The Church, of all places, should be where the powerless and vulnerable can find their voice and get justice. The onus lies on the men in cassocks.

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