Next Steps

Published September 13, 2022

Sexual abuse is a persistent evil that cannot be eliminated from our Church with limited, one-time interventions. Instead, an effective response requires Catholics to undertake an ongoing journey down two paths. First, we must accompany and support victim-survivors in their pursuit of truth, accountability, and healing. Second, we must work proactively to prevent future abuse.

As committed Catholics, we believe that the duty of walking these two paths is not some abstract obligation that belongs to the narrow subset of church officials who are tasked with addressing the abuse crisis in their professional capacities. It is a concrete responsibility that falls on the shoulders of every member of the Body of Christ, for truly “if [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it”
(1 Corinthians 12:26).

In an effort to embrace this shared responsibility, Awake Milwaukee has developed a series of recommendations for next steps the Archdiocese of Milwaukee can take to build on the progress that has already been made. These recommendations emerge from our accompaniment with victim-survivors and reflect extensive research into the best practices already implemented by other Catholic dioceses in the United States.

We offer these next steps as an act of service to our Church, in a spirit of faith and hope.

Read the complete recommendations in the document below.