Plan to Oust Abusive Priests Unveiled(MSNBC)

by sf 2 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

• 

  sf

  < http://www.msnbc.com/news/761340.asp?0na=x2101110-

  THE BOSTON GLOBE, which obtained a copy of the draft policy scheduled to be released later Tuesday by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, reported that the document also would require that every diocese in the country report all accusations of sexual abuse of minors to secular authorities for investigation.
  The Globe also reported that the bishops are expected to offer an apology to the victims of abusive priests and for the handling of the cases by bishops.
  The plan by the conference’s Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse will be put to a vote when bishops from around the country meet June 13-15 in Dallas. Debate over ousting errant clergy is expected to be intense.
  
  SEEKING TO RESTORE TRUST
  The Conference of Catholic Bishops has been struggling to restore trust in church leadership following revelations that some priests who victimized young people were allowed to continue working by their superiors.
  The sheer number of cases has also been troubling. More than 225 clergy out of 46,075 U.S. priests have either resigned or been taken off duty since the crisis began in January with a case in Boston.
  A decade ago, the conference developed a set of guidelines on responding to abuse claims, but compliance was voluntary since each diocese reports to the Vatican — not the national bishops’ organization.
  The bishops have indicated that, this time, they would ask Rome to make any abuse policy mandatory. But new doubts have been raised about whether the Vatican would give its approval.
  Since Pope John Paul II and U.S. cardinals met in April to discuss the crisis, some top Vatican advisers have expressed opposition to automatically reporting molestation claims to civil authorities.
  
  NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT
  Many American bishops have already pledged to do just that, even if their state law does not require them to do so. Bishop Joseph Galante, who has been working with the committee on its proposal, has said the national policy should include immediately notifying law enforcement of any claims.

  Galante, coadjutor of the Dallas Diocese, said he felt many bishops supported a policy of suspending any clergyman who abuses a child in the future, but divisions remain on whether past abusers should be removed from the priesthood.

  Some bishops believe the church should not dismiss one-time offenders whose misconduct occurred decades ago and who haven’t been accused since.
  
  The Associated Press contributed to this report.

  
  Too many 'lambs'!
• 

  ChristianObserver

  Hello :o)

  Not sure if this has been posted - apologies if it has.
  
  By Peter Cooney

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Catholic bishops' committee recommended on Tuesday that priests who sexually abuse a minor in the future be defrocked but held open the possibility that a past offender with only one offense could remain in the ministry.

  The proposed standards, which come amid a scandal over pedophile priests in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church, would adopt a "zero tolerance" stance toward priests who abuse children from now on. U.S. Catholic bishops will vote on the proposals at a June 13-15 meeting in Dallas.

  In what the committee chairman said would be a "hotly debated" item, the committee's draft document said past offenders who were not diagnosed as pedophiles and did not have multiple offenses could be allowed to remain in the ministry, but only after a thorough review in which the victim could participate. The cleric could not be involved in any religious work involving contact with young people.

  The committee proposed the defrocking of any priest who had been diagnosed as a pedophile or had committed abuse against a minor more than one once in the past.

  "Our foremost goal is to protect children and young people. One essential way to do it is to say clearly, 'If you abuse, you are out of the priesthood,"' said St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop Harry Flynn, who chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse that drafted the document.

  Initial reaction was mixed, with some calling the proposal a good start, but others saying it did not go far enough to in punishing senior clerics who covered up abuse by priests.

  Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the nation's largest Catholic archdiocese, welcomed the draft, but said he would push to apply the zero tolerance policy to any priest who had abused minors in the past.

  ZERO TOLERANCE DEBATE

  The zero tolerance approach was debated but not accepted in April at an extraordinary meeting of U.S. cardinals in Rome called by the pope to discuss the spreading scandal.

  The new document proposes that every U.S. diocese report all accusations of sexual abuse of minors to police, and it apologizes for the behavior of abusers and for the bishops' mishandling of abusive priests -- an indication officials are aware of a deep dissatisfaction with the way the issue has been handled by the church hierarchy.

  Flynn told a news conference in Washington he was aware many strongly opposed keeping past offenders in the priesthood, but said there was "a large minority of bishops, expert observers and people in the pew who wanted some flexibility."

  "We are deeply sympathetic to feelings of victims/survivors who have experienced years of abuse due to sexual abuse," Flynn said. "But treatment -- and the power of Christian conversion -- has made a difference in some cases."

  The "Draft Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" was crafted over the past months. Starting in January with the case of a single priest in Boston, the pedophilia scandal has spread across the country.

  Dozens of U.S. priests have lost their jobs over allegations. Bishops in the United States, Ireland and Poland have resigned because of accusations against them or their handling of allegations against priests.

  "The sexual abuse of children and young people by some priests and bishops, and the ways in which these crimes and sins were too often dealt with by bishops, have caused enormous pain, anger and confusion. They have strained the bonds of trust that should unite us," reads the document.

  The committee proposed the creation of a national Office for Child and Youth Protection to help dioceses implement its proposals and produce an annual report on their progress.

  EROSION OF TRUST

  Bernie McDaid, who accuses a Boston priest of abusing him in the late 1960s and early 1970s, welcomed the proposed policy but said it would have been better had the church leadership acted sooner. He said it was "unacceptable" some priests could stay on the job if they had only been accused once.

  "These suggestions are long on exquisite hairsplitting about abusers, short on specifics about enforcement, and silent on corrupt church leaders who have reassigned molesters and covered up their crimes," David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement.

  But Patrick Schiltz, a Minneapolis law school dean who has defended dioceses and religious denominations in sexual abuse cases, called the draft "a terrific piece of work. It's kind of like a greatest hits compilation of the best policies from dioceses around the country."

  Notre Dame University theology professor Father Richard McBrien said the document showed the bishops' deep concern about the erosion of trust and confidence in their leadership because of the scandal.

  "They will have to earn them back over a long period of time," McBrien said. "The damage that has already been done to their credibility is, like the abuse of the victims themselves, "devastating and long-lasting."
• 

  Yadira Angelini

  Bad News From Rome
  
  CRISIS Magazine - e-Letter
  
  June 4, 2002
  
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  Dear Reader,
  
  I have some bad news for you. I know, you've gotten all you can take for a while. But still, this is important, and you won't be hearing it anywhere else.
  
  I just got back from a visit to Rome and the Vatican. On the bright side, the weather was great and the city is as beautiful as ever.
  
  Unfortunately, that's where the good news ends.
  
  My reason for the trip was to talk to Vatican officials about the sexual abuse scandal in the United States. Just like you, I've been wondering why Rome doesn't seem to be doing anything about it.
  
  Well, I found out. And the report isn't so good. Here's what I learned...
  
  Most of the high-level Curia officials think there really IS no scandal. They told me it's just another case of media bias against the Church... that secular news reporters are just blowing things out of proportion. They say, rightly enough, that the Church doesn't have any more pedophiles than any other institution. In fact, one official commented that there have always been sexual scandals in the Church, and the Church is always going to be subject to sin, so why are we so concerned?
  
  Why are we so concerned?! Let me see... It might have something to do with the Church authorities' denial of the real problem -- namely, predatory homosexuals in the priesthood. Or we might be concerned because no one in the Church seems to be stepping up to the plate to lead us out of this mess. Or maybe we're a little upset by the cover-up culture that's been growing in the chancery offices.
  
  And when you throw in the fact that the Curia doesn't think there's a scandal to begin with... well... I'd say we have a pretty good reason to be concerned.
  
  But it gets worse.
  
  Apparently, the scandal in the U.S. didn't even register with Vatican leadership until an Italian newspaper happened to mention it in May. May! That's almost 6 months after the crisis erupted on the front page of the Boston Globe (and became the lead story on all the major news programs).
  
  I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I asked if the Curia ever followed the news in the U.S. and was told about the Vatican's "peninsula thinking." That means that if an issue doesn't affect Italy, it doesn't affect them.
  
  I tried to explain things from the American Catholic perspective, but they tried to shush me by repeating again that the Catholic Church has no more pedophiles in the priesthood than any other group of males.
  
  "Fine," I said. "But the problem ISN'T pedophilia... The real problem is active homosexuals preying on post pubescent children and bishops covering it up."
  
  No response.
  
  Needless to say, I came away from Rome with little hope for the upcoming Dallas meeting of the bishops. The April 24th Vatican communiqué, following the Pope's meeting with the American cardinals, put the ball squarely in the U.S. bishops' court.
  
  Of course, there has been no real leadership here, either.
  
  "The bishops are divided on these issues," I was told by a high-level official, who wanted to remain anonymous. "Their divisions are going to become even more apparent at that meeting."
  
  Another member of the Curia predicted that "unless some bishop or group of bishops takes firm leadership at that meeting, the results will be very disappointing."
  
  After my meeting with the Curia, I'm not holding my breath.
  
  Best,
  
  Deal
  
  
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