“I estimate that at least one-third to one-half of the dozens of victim-survivors I’ve counseled during the past eight years have left the church — either in shame or frustration — because they found no justice or healing. We want people to come in, yet we have a lot of places that it’s not safe for them to be.”
M. Garlinda Burton
The general secretary of the United Methodist Church’s Commission on the Status and Role of Women was speaking about sexual misconduct at a denomination event on sexual ethics. (RNS)
“Pakistan has set the standard for intolerance when it comes to misusing blasphemy laws, but sending a schoolboy to jail for something he scribbled on an exam paper is truly appalling.”
Bede Sheppard
The senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch was talking about a 17-year-old charged with blasphemy in Pakistan. (RNS)
“I apologize in the name of the church because we allowed some of these things to continue. This is sinful. Racism is sinful.”
Gregory Aymond
The archbishop of New Orleans, whose archdiocese has released colonial-era baptismal records of slaves, was acknowledging that the records draw attention to the fact that the church and its religious orders often owned slaves. (RNS)