SW News: Four bishops who lead committees within the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) wrote to members of Congress to urge them to address the rising issue of child exploitation on the Internet and through mobile technologies.

The bishops are in charge of committees whose mandates include safeguarding children and the weak as well as supporting strong individuals and families. The bishops said the exploitation of children has increased exponentially over the last several years in large part due to the Internet and mobile technology.

They said online child exploitation threatens the safety and well-being of our young people and destroys families and communities. The ability of a child to grow into adulthood in peace and security is both a human right and a demand of the common good: the dignity of the human person requires protection for young people so that they may flourish as they mature.

The prelates encouraged lawmakers to consider three longstanding moral principles in discerning legislation that addresses the protection of children online: Respect for life and dignity, the call to family, the call to community, and participation.

“Online child exploitation occurs in many forms, from the creation and distribution of child pornography to the inducement to engage in dangerous and self-destructive activities. Often, children are targeted due to their immaturity, using their precious innocence to manipulate and harm them. But children are also exploited simply because the Internet contains a multitude of material that are not intended for child consumption but are nevertheless easily available.
Children often accidentally encounter pornography, depictions of extreme violence, and other destructive media that is harmful to young people.

A child may search online for a term he or she heard and did not understand, or intentionally search for inappropriate media out of curiosity. The lack of adequate safeguards on many Internet websites makes this early exposure to sexual and violent materials far too common,” the letter stated.

“There is an immediate need for effective safeguards to ensure children cannot access inappropriate online media. Likewise, law enforcement agencies and child-serving professionals with the ability to identify and remove child pornography from the Internet must be provided the necessary resources to ensure the safety and well-being of children.”

"As pastors, we have seen the destructive effects of the reprehensible offenses of child exploitation firsthand. And as leaders of an institution that, for many years, failed to meet its responsibility to protect all children, we know all too well the consequences of a culture that fails to give adequate attention to the problem of child sexual exploitation,” wrote the bishops.

The letter's signatories include Bishop James Johnston, Jr. of Kansas City-St. Joseph, chairman of the Committee on Protection of Children & Young People; Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia,

Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Bishop Robert Reed, Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, Chairman of the Committee on Communications, and Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Chairman of the Committee on Protection of Children and Young People.