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WCC Public Policy Positions: Keep Children Safe
Here we elaborate on each of the WCC's 2023 Public Policy Positions. The complete document can be found below. Our Public Policy Positions are organized according to the Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching. All of the positions in previous Capitol Updates fell under the first theme of “Life and Dignity of the Human Person.” This position and the positions in the coming weeks will fall under “Family, Community, and Participation.” You can learn more about Catholic Social Teaching on the USCCB website.
Keep Children Safe. Every child deserves safety and care. Wisconsin must continue to advance the protection of children from all forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The Catholic Church’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People helps to advance this mission. Wisconsin must also make every effort to eliminate child poverty.
The Church’s social teaching emphasizes the need to respect the dignity of children and protect their rights under the laws of every nation. Such protections are “all the more urgent the smaller the child is and the more it is need of everything, when it is sick, suffering or handicapped.” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church no. 244).
In this regard, the Church can never forget and must always acknowledge its own history of clergy sexual abuse of children. Since the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was adopted by the U.S. bishops in 2002, the U.S. Church has been committed to addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy and eradicating the scourge of abuse both in the Church and in society. The Charter is a work in progress and has been revised several times, most recently in 2018. It directs action in the following areas:
- Creating a safe environment for children and young people;
- Healing and reconciliation of victims and survivors;
- Making prompt and effective response to allegations;
- Cooperating with civil authorities;
- Disciplining offenders;
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Providing for means of accountability for the future to ensure the problem continues to be effectively dealt with through the Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection and the National Review Board.
In addition, the bishops of Wisconsin supported the 2003 law that added clergy to the list of mandatory reporters of child sexual abuse and gave survivors up to the age of 35 the ability to sue for damages (2003 Wisconsin Act 279).
Through the WCC, Wisconsin’s bishops have and continue to support laws to: protect unborn children and provide safe havens for newborns; provide health care, nutrition, affordable childcare, quality education, and safe harbor for trafficked youth; return 17-year-olds to the juvenile justice system; and prohibit restraints on juveniles who come before Wisconsin courts.
Every child is created by God out of love. Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Mt 19:14) As Catholics, we must redouble our efforts so that all children can grow up in safe and nurturing homes and communities, free from poverty, abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
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