WE write as members of the McLellan Commission which reported on Safeguarding in the Catholic Church in Scotland 15 months ago. When will we see action from the Catholic Bishops of Scotland in response to the report? Having been asked by the bishops to produce the report we made 49 recommendations and they announced that they accepted the report and the recommendations in full.
One recommendation was that they would publish within three months a timetable for action on the recommendations, to be followed by a progress report within 12 months. That has not happened.
The three most substantial recommendations were:
• To put survivors first – first in the priority of their needs and first in helping to shape policy. As far as we can tell from contacts with survivors that has not happened.
• To introduce an independent element into safeguarding within the church. As far as we can tell from the Safeguarding website of the church that has not happened.
• To be transparent and open in safeguarding. Not only do the Scottish public know nothing of the action taken in response to the report, as far as we can tell from Catholic friends the members of the church themselves know nothing.
A year ago the bishops might have used the opportunity of the publication of the report to introduce systemic reform; now they are in danger of confirming the worst fears of survivors and observers by appearing to ignore its recommendations. The one response the bishops must not make now is to say that things are being done “behind the scenes”. That response would reveal that they have not understood the problem.
If we feel frustrated and disappointed, how must survivors feel?
Very Rev. Andrew RC McLellan; Prof Nancy Loucks, Families Outside; Ranald Mair, social care consultant; Kathleen Marshall, former Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland; Sheena McDonald; Lindsay Roy, MP for Glenrothes and Central Fife 2008 – 2015; Danny Sullivan, former chair of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission for England and Wales,
c/ol 4 Liggars Place,
Dunfermline.
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