Filipino bishops bring abuse of kids to the fore

VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis’ sex abuse commission has begun an important new phase of its work: Bringing the expertise of its members to the developing world where bishops’ conferences have lagged behind their English-speaking counterparts in crafting guidelines to prevent abuse and care for survivors.

In August, three members of the commission held a three-day workshop with 76 of the 92 Filipino bishops on creating safe environments for children in the Philippines, where 60 percent of Asia’s Catholics live.

That’s an important development given that bishops have long been criticized for failing to sanction abusive priests in a bid to protect the church and prevent scandal.

“It is a fairly big deal,” said Gabriel Dy-Liacco, a commission member, psychotherapist and pastoral counselor from the Philippines who arranged the workshop.

“It’s important to note that they’re the ones who asked for it, which I think is great. It means the motivation is coming from them, not from us. And that’s precisely what this type of work needs,” Dy-Liacco said.

He said that for the Philippines, the church is in the process of overcoming the societal taboo on talking about the sexual abuse of children—a taboo that has resulted in the problem being under-reported in the media “even though it is a fact of life.” AP