For Immediate Release
Thursday, September 12, 2019
On Tuesday, September 10, Archbishop William E. Lori met with Marie Collins, who was in Baltimore to kick off her U.S. speaking tour to discuss the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. The Archbishop invited Ms. Collins, who is an outspoken advocate for survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and who was a member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, to meet with him and members of his staff and the Archdiocese’s Independent Child Abuse Review Board prior to the public event at which she was to speak.
The meeting lasted approximately 90 minutes and included the Archbishop, Bishop Adam Parker (auxiliary bishop), the Chair and Vice Chair of the Review Board, and several staff members who regularly deal with issues related to child sexual abuse for the Archdiocese.
“I was most grateful to Ms. Collins for agreeing to meet with us and for sharing her very personal and painful experience with abuse by a Catholic priest in Ireland, as well as her insights into how the Church can better communicate with and contribute to the healing of victims of abuse,” Archbishop Lori said. “Ms. Collins underscored the importance of listening to victim-survivors and of meeting each of them where they are in their individual journeys of healing and of faith. I am most grateful to her for her counsel and pray she will continue to be a courageous witness as together we seek to heal the wounds of abuse.”
During the meeting, Archbishop Lori and representatives of the Office of Child & Youth Protection and the Independent Review Board shared with Ms. Collins the efforts of the Archdiocese to protect children from abuse and to promote healing for victim-survivors in the Archdiocese.
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