“It is your God-given responsibility as pastors to bind up the wounds caused by every breach of trust, to foster healing, to promote reconciliation and to reach out with loving concern to those so seriously wronged.”

-- Pope Benedict XVI, address to the US Bishops, April 16, 2008

From the first meeting of lay leaders and bishops in 2003 that was to lead to the formation of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management in 2005, the issue of renewing and strengthening trust within the Catholic Church in the US has been a central focus of concern for all.  As Pope Benedict XVI has said: “it is an urgent task to rebuild confidence and trust” in the Church.

A working group of Leadership Roundtable members was tasked with producing a report that would contribute toward the development of a comprehensive long-term strategy to renew and strengthen trust and credibility for the Church in the US through the promotion of a culture of excellence.

Meeting with Experts

In January 2008 the working group held a think-tank meeting in Chicago and invited input from contributors with experience in strengthening trust in the business, nonprofit and/or Church sectors.  Time was spent identifying best practices in this area and reflecting on how these practices might be applied in the Catholic Church context.

The committee is currently synthesizing the suggestions into a white paper outlining a proposed comprehensive long-term strategy.

“Yes, God is the God of forgiveness, but when we lose the trust of those whom we are called to serve and to lead in the name of Christ and the Church, such a person should not be in a leadership position as a priest or a bishop or a deacon.”

“We want environments of faith where people can trust one another and their leaders, their clergy.”

 “My suggestion is that we really do need prayer and penance and especially for those of us who have in some way been involved as leaders, asking the all important question… ‘God, how do you want to use us in this time to purify your Church and to restore trust?’”

 “I want to offer heartfelt, sincere thanks to the individuals and the groups who have called us as a Church to integrity, and to this repentance and purification.  Thank you.  What you have done has caused us pain and caused us to recognize brokenness, but thank you for calling us to integrity and to repentance.”

--Bishop Gregory Aymond, (then) Chair of the USCCB Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, March 20, 2007, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University.