Two of the four working groups for English-speaking prelates at the worldwide meeting of Catholic bishops on young people have spent time considering the impact of clergy abuse scandals on the global church’s credibility. In the first of three reports expected from the working groups during the Oct. 3-28 Synod of Bishops, one of the English groups said bluntly that in the gathering’s expected final document clergy abuse “cannot be skimmed over tangen-tially in a few short sentences.”

Naming some of the effects of abuse – “shattered trust, the trauma and lifelong suffering of survivors; the catastrophic failures in case management; the continued silence and denial” the group added: “these issues cry out to be named openly by the Synod.”

“If priests themselves are afraid to minister among the youth, then how can our Synod get out the message that young people, their faith and their vocational discernment are important to us?” asked that group, which is being led by Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias.

“As one member of our Group reminded us: ‘Trust arrives slowly, on foot, but Trust leaves on horseback!’” the report said. “‘Trust must be rebuilt, one person at a time.’”

The 267 prelates and the 72 auditors taking part in the Synod of Bishops have been meeting in 14 groups divided by working language for the past few days to reflect on the first part of the gathering’s three-part working document, known as the Instrumentum Laboris.