A member of the committee organizing Pope Francis' February summit on the sexual abuse crisis said the meeting should include discussing ways to hold bishops accountable for handling cases correctly.
While church officials have publicly identified 185 clergy members in Illinois as having been “credibly” accused of child sexual abuse, the Illinois attorney general's office states that it found allegations of abuse by at least 500 more.
Adopting the practices of the restorative justice movement could help re-establish the church’s moral credibility on preventing and responding to sex abuse.