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New Book Offers Roadmap for Church Communication on Sexual Abuse Cases
Confirmed
In Short: Rome (OSV News) — A newly released book by Paulina Guzik urges the Catholic Church to prioritize effective communication during clergy sexual abuse crises.
Rome (OSV News) — A newly released book by Paulina Guzik, international editor for OSV News and professor of media studies and communications at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków, Poland, offers a roadmap for the Catholic Church to improve its communication during clergy sexual abuse crises. According to Guzik, the book addresses a gap in existing safeguarding elements, providing clear guidance on what to communicate, how to communicate it, and when to do so.
From John Paul II to Francis, popes have helped transform the Church's law and culture, although slowly and often under external pressure. However, clear guidance on communication in cases of sexual abuse was lacking, Guzik said during the press presentation in Rome on Sept. 10. The principles outlined in the book complement the Church's progress in developing legal procedures, safeguarding policies, and a culture of accountability.
The book, titled 'Truth Heals: Clergy Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church's Response,' proposes 10 principles for crisis communications, including putting victims first, embracing transparency, and listening carefully. 'The first duty of a Church that calls itself a mother is to hear those who were harmed, believe the seriousness of their suffering, and respond with compassion, justice, and sustained care,' Guzik emphasized.
What's confirmed
- ROME (OSV News) — A newly released book is urging the Catholic Church to rethink how it communicates during clergy sexual abuse crises.
- Drawing on examples of both effective and failed communication from around the world, the book’s author, who is international editor for OSV News and professor of media studies and communications at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków, Poland, said she wanted to fill the gap between existing safeguarding elements and one element that is visibly still pending — communications.
- “From John Paul II to Francis, popes have helped transform — although slowly and quite often urged by external pressure — the Church’s law and culture. But clear guidance on what to communicate, how to communicate it and when to do so in cases of sexual abuse was lacking,” Guzik said during the press presentation in Rome Sept. 10.
- According to Guzik, the principles outlined in the book complement the Church’s progress in developing legal procedures, safeguarding policies and a culture of accountability.
- “It’s a book for decision-makers in the Church. To be able to hand it to the bishop of Rome as a starting point — that made me tremendously happy,” Guzik told OSV News.
- “And while Pope Leo was listening with a very serious face hearing about ‘Truth Heals,’ his face lit up with a huge smile when I handed him homemade chocolate chip cookies made by my daughter,” she recalled.
- “The way I started this research was really simple — I saw my own Church, in Poland, struggling with the answer to the abuse crisis — at the time almost two decades after the iconic 2002 Spotlight investigation in the U.S.,” Guzik told OSV News.
- Alazraki got a standing ovation from her fellow journalists in Sala Stampa, the Vatican press room, after she told the bishops to stop “playing the ostrich” and transparently communicate the abuse scandal.
What's still developing
- In her book, Guzik challenges the assumption that public relations, legal approach or institutional silence can protect the Church’s credibility — something many local churches still think is the case.
- "It must be part of the Church's response from the very beginning: part of how leaders listen, make decisions, accept responsibility, restore justice and reform structures." In her book, Guzik provides a practical framework for Church leaders, communicators and journalists working to rebuild trust in the wake of abuse and institutional failure.