Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults is Essential to our Mission

Policies protecting minors and vulnerable adults aren’t merely requirements to qualify for grants from Global Oblate Fundraisers or the Oblate Solidarity Trusts. They are not the primary ways to avoid difficult legal situations. They flow from our charism as Oblates, who care for the poorest and most abandoned.

Consider this:

• Children abused by a neighbor, coach, or teacher have a higher authority to go to: society and their parents.
• Children abused by their family members, even their parents, can be protected by society.
• But a child, abused by the person who represents God—and think with the mind of a child, not an adult—what recourse is there higher than God? To whom does one turn?
• Sexual abuse of a child by someone in religious authority is the type of abuse that pierces deeply and endures for a long time.

I come from a unit and a region that continues to pay an enormous price for mishandling these kinds of abuse.  Space is far too limited here to justify the complexity the topic deserves. But I want to leave you with this one point for reference. What has harmed the Oblates and the Catholic Church, even more than the fact of abuse, is a history of disbelieving or covering up that abuse.  As horrible as abuse is, the cover-up is what destroyed many people’s trust in the entire Church.

Many years ago, such behavior may have been done out of ignorance, thinking that abuse was simply a moral failure by an individual and an issue from which the child would soon recover.  Both of these assumptions have been proven horribly wrong.  Neither victims nor the church can continue to live in such ignorance.  Sometimes, it was swept under the rug to protect the reputation of the abuser or of the organization to which the abuser belongs.

Any Christian should know better. Every Oblate must know better.  We all know that the Good Shepherd went out searching for the single lost sheep rather than staying with the 99 safe ones.   The good Shepherd did not blame the lost sheep for getting lost and did not stay back to protect the good reputation of shepherds everywhere. And neither must we.

The 37th Chapter mandates that we develop policies that safeguard minors and vulnerable adults.  It’s not enough simply to have them.  We need to actively promote and follow them. Document that they are taught and followed by all Oblates, employees, and volunteers in our ministries, not only once, but regularly as part of ongoing formation.  When there are accusations, we must follow the policies to investigate them completely and objectively, documenting our responses to the allegations.

We need to remain fair to the reputation of the Oblate who stands accused during an investigation.  I have seen several of false allegations; these brothers deserve our understanding and support.  The sad truth is that the vast majority of accusations are not false. If we fail to adhere to this mandate, the consequences will be severe: millions of dollars will be lost, our credibility will suffer, and the souls of children and other vulnerable individuals will suffer the most. As ministers called to lead as the Good Shepherd, let’s follow his example.

By James Brobst, OMI

Published on the OMI World website