TV Show: Clergy Sexual Abuse: In Context

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PITTSBURGH – The Diocese of Pittsburgh produced a program on clergy sexual abuse that aired on KDKA-TV2 on Thursday, March 4, 2004 at 7:30 pm. Hosted by Bishop Donald Wuerl, the half-hour special does the following:

• Takes a look at the nature and scope of the problem of abuse in the church – what happened?
• Examines how the bishops responded to the problem
• Discusses the measures put in place to correct the problem
• Looks to plans and expectations for the future.

The television program includes a discussion of the John Jay study released February 27, 2004 that compiles the statistics on sex abuse in the Catholic Church from 1950 to the present. It also places those statistics in context with commentary from national experts, the Diocese of Pittsburgh victim assistance coordinator and local parishioners.

Some of the national experts include:

• Patrick Schiltz, a law professor and former attorney who has handled more than 500 cases of clergy sex abuse over 15 years
• Father Stephen Rossetti, a psychotherapist from one of the leading treatment centers for sex offenders in the US
• Professor Nicholas P. Cafardi, dean of the Duquesne University School of Law and member of the National Lay Review Board established by the bishops to review compliance with the U S Conference of Catholic Bishops “Charter for Protection of Children and Young People.”

As Bishop Wuerl said, “The Charter is a mandate – the recognition that the abuse of a minor means the immediate removal of a priest from ministry and second, that an individual bishop is not free to do otherwise. In addition to these strong commitments for dealing with problems, I think another extremely important element is what we have put in place for the future, to try to eliminate the opportunities for problems to occur in the first place.”