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August 22, 2018 Press Release: Response to the Recent Reports of Clergy Child Sex Abuse and Cover up in the RCC: From: Mary Eileen Collingwood, ARCWP Bishop serving the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests Women priests are needed as part of a systemic change in the Roman Catholic Church—building a structure that supports justice and equality. Our voices need to be heard. We work within a model of circular governance as ordained members within our movement and within the liturgical communities we serve. Catholics have deserved so much more for a long, long time! Following the prophetic witness of women priests, the church needs to form inclusive faith communities that thrive as all members are honored equally, treat others with compassion, and seek Gospel justice for all. This crisis that has taken over the world stage is a clarion call for all Catholics to raise their hearts and voices in demanding new structures that place women and men in decision-making roles in our church. Those clerics that are responsible for covering up the sexual abuses of our children by the clergy, and those that engage in corroborative criminal behavior, must be removed now. It is time for serious reform of these church structures that have protected bishops and the Vatican from accountability. Accepting women priests and married men will counter the corrupt clerical model that has produced the present ecclesial environment which continues to tolerate cover-ups and pay-offs as the standard fare of conduct. Pope Francis can name the cause of sexual abuse of children as coming from the evils of clericalism, but he falls short in dismantling that structure through a new model of priestly ministry that includes women. A structure that includes women and men standing and working together as equals, seeking justice for all in a renewed model of priestly ministry will ultimately be the Church’s salvation. |
