Abstract
The sexual abuse crisis that has rocked the Catholic Church in recent decades has resulted in one major unintended casualty: creating a skeptical distance in the relationship between adult leaders and youth. This article provides a short history of the abuse scandal in the US and discusses the reforms and repercussions of the Dallas Charter, in conjunction with the relationships between adult leaders and youth. By incorporating the five aspects of the Developmental Relationships Framework into youth programs, ministers and volunteers will have the means to provide tangible action items for developing positive relationships with young people. These five items include expressing care, challenging growth, providing support, sharing power, and expanding possibilities.
Highlights
Numerous state laws were passed that extended the statute of limitations for sex abuse cases, and judgments againstdioceses and religious orders amounted to over one billion dollars, causing several Catholic dioceses to file for bankruptcy and Chapter 11 protection (Plante and McChesney 2011)
1970s and that incidents of new abuse cases were infrequent in the decade between 2002 and 2012 afterdioceses began to implement mandated safe environment programs. They concluded their book by stating: “Beyond this decade of crisis, we look forward to a far better Roman Catholic Church, one in which our collective concern that a member of the clergy might harm a treasured child is the worry of a distant past” (p. 250)
Articles 12 and 13 of the Charter essentially mandated “safe environment” training for all priests, deacons, teachers, staff, and volunteers who work with children. They included information about how to sustain and foster a safe environment for minors and mandated background checks on all priests, deacons, staff, and volunteers working with young people (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 2018)
Summary
In its over 2000-year history, the Roman Catholic Church has had many challenges and conflicts, both external and internal, that have reshaped the course of human history. After hearing from various scholarly and pastoral leaders in the field, Plante and McChesney presented a concluding chapter in the edited book They stated, “the issue of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy and others in the employ of the Church has been taken very seriously by most. 1970s and that incidents of new abuse cases were infrequent in the decade between 2002 and 2012 after (arch)dioceses began to implement mandated safe environment programs They concluded their book by stating: “Beyond this decade of crisis, we look forward to a far better Roman Catholic Church, one in which our collective concern that a member of the clergy might harm a treasured child is the worry of a distant past”
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