At the beginning of June, we remember two critical stages in the Church’s fight against the sexual abuse of minors. 

The first is the 20th anniversary of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, adopted by the U.S. bishops during their epochal June 13-15, 2002, meeting in Dallas. It established procedures for addressing the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, as well as provided guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and abuse prevention. 

The second is the third anniversary of Vos Estis Lux Mundi(“You Are the Light of the World”), Pope Francis’ motu proprio that established new norms to combat sexual abuse in the Church universal and to ensure that bishops and religious superiors — who had been largely exempted from the Dallas Charter and its three subsequent revisions — would also be held accountable for the way they handled accusations. Vos Estis entered into force on a three-year experimental basis on June 1, 2019, and is, therefore, now up for renewal and revision. 

The beginning of June, however, is a fitting time to recommit to the Church’s fight against sexual predation against the young and vulnerable for another reason: the celebration on June 3 of the liturgical memorial of the Ugandan Martyrs. Sts. Joseph Mkasa, Charles Lwanga, Denis Sebuggwawo and their 19 companions were martyred not just out of fidelity to Christ just a few years after Christianity was introduced to their country, but in explicit condemnation and heroic defense of young male pages from a king’s desire to sexually molest them. 

It would be fitting for them to be named patrons of the Church’s persevering efforts for child protection.  

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