Revisiting the Common Norms for Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse

Abstract

On April 23, 2007, the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) issued its Common Norms for Diocesan Policies Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests and Deacons (NSA). These norms were formulated after the issue of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) started receiving strongly negative publicity in the United States in the late 1990s, and easier access to international media in the Caribbean made it a hot topic in the dioceses of the Conference. Our societies have always had a rumor mill pouring out unsubstantiated talk, in our parishes and in our Catholic schools, about priests and their boys. Usually the truth remained under cover and even priests did not know if and when a brother priest might have been accused of such abuse. As happened in the secular realm, the media glare threatened to bring such alleged cases out of the woodwork. While there was an avalanche of such accusations in the United States, the Caribbean did not see any increase in accusations although the weekly tabloids in places like Trinidad and Tobago did carry the occasional gossip which may or may not have contained some grains of truth.