Citing a question posed recently in a Newsweek cover story titled “What Would Mary Do? How Women Can Save the Catholic Church from Its Sins,” the Arizona Republic looks at a few possible answers, expanding its query to Episcopalians and Lutherans.
Wyoming-based priest and Episcopal Café editor Ann Fontaine is interviewed:
“You can’t stop … all [perpetration], but you can really reduce the rate,” Fontaine says, adding that every suspected case of abuse is reported to police or child-welfare agencies.
“You don’t try to deal with it yourself. You can’t deal with it in-house,” Fontaine says.
Fontaine thinks victims – such as those who have confided in her – are more likely to come to a female priest if they were abused by a male priest. Male victims told her they could tell her things they couldn’t tell anyone else.
In case you missed it, check out Ann’s recent essay, Confronting sexual abuse in the Episcopal Church.