Washington D.C., Aug 28, 2018 / 11:55 am
The body charged with advising the U.S. bishops on sexual abuse prevention has called for an independent lay-led investigation into all allegations of sexual misconduct in the Church and for revisions of the Dallas Charter.
The National Review Board (NRB), which is constituted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued the call in a sternly worded statement Aug. 28, in which it condemned a "culture of silence" in the Church hierarchy.
In a press release circulated by the U.S. bishops' conference, the board, which is entirely composed of lay experts from different fields, said that they have been raising concerns about episcopal complacency "for several years" and called for specific reforms.
"The revelations of horrific incidents of abuse in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, along with the abuse perpetrated by Archbishop McCarrick point to a systemic problem within the Church that can no longer be ignored or tolerated by the episcopacy in the United States," the statement read.