Josh Wester rose to give the ARITF report and to bring two recommendations from the task force. After a couple of questions, the sad truth emerged. The task force was not able to do its work because, in spite of the clear will of the messengers expressed in previous conventions that we have robust abuse reform, the task force was not allowed to do what it was tasked to do.
- Money that was promised was not released to the committee.
- It seemed, as I read between the lines, that cooperation from entities was not as full as it could have been.
- Insurance concerns and financial concerns took priority over our concerns for taking care of those who have been abused – the survivors of the most horrendous forms of sin.
I was sickened by Josh’s report. Josh did a great job as did Bruce Frank before him, but he said that they were not allowed to bring “robust abuse reform” and have basically given up on it, to settle for lesser forms.
It is sad that for all our talk about wanting to help the abused, we did not act when we had the opportunity.
