All Rev'd Up: Catholic Church Has Seen 'No Systemic Change'

In this photo taken on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018, Pope Francis speaks during a meeting with youths in Palermo, Italy. The umbrella organization of Catholic religious orders in the U.S. is suggesting its members consider voluntarily identifying priests accused of sexual abuse, opening up what could be a major new chapter in the Catholic Church's long-running abuse and cover-up saga, The Associated Press has learned.

Hannah Uebele is a producer for Under the Radar with Callie Crossley and previously worked as associate producer for Boston Public Radio. She graduated from Tufts University with a B.S. in English and Environmental Studies. She's a proud Delawarean but has found herself saying "wicked" more and more often, so the Bostonian metamorphosis is well underway.Contact: hannah_uebele@wgbh.org

February 24, 2020

Updated August 07, 2023

This week marks the one year anniversary of Pope Francis' global summit on child sexual abuse protection. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III joined Boston Public Radio on Monday to speak about the protesters that have gathered in Rome to mark the occasion, arguing that little has been done since last year's summit.

The statute of limitations, which limits the amount of time a victim has to come forward about their abuser, must be abolished, Price said.

"You have to get rid of the statute of limitations," he said. "This is foolishness — a year later and we have no systemic change, no policy change, this is horrific."

The lack of systemic change allows for the continuation of spiritual abuse, Monroe said.

"One of the things that the Church has not understood is that it cannot police itself," she said. "The Church is very interesting in that it continues to repackage the same rhetoric as something new."

Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist and the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology.

Price is professor of worship, church & culture and founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Together they host the All Rev’d Up podcast, produced by WGBH.