Posted on 17-6-2002

US Catholic Bishops New Safety Policy
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and SAM DILLON, NY Times, 15 June 2002

The US's Roman Catholic bishops decided today to bar any priest who has
ever sexually abused a minor from ministerial duties, acknowledging in
anguished debate that with the eyes of the world on them they could no
longer offer any protection to predator priests.

The decision — the centerpiece of a binding national policy intended to
deal with the devastating sexual abuse crisis in the church — means that
any priest known to have ever abused a child, no matter how long ago, may
no longer serve as a pastor or chaplain in a parish, school, hospital or
nursing home. He may retain the title of priest, but he will no longer be
allowed to dress in clerical garb or to say Mass anywhere but in private.
The bishops retreated, however, from a previous stance that would have
taken the more punitive step of asking the pope to defrock — or reduce to
layman's status — every egregious and multiple offender.

Defrocking can be a cumbersome process taking years in Vatican courts, and
the compromise will leave bishops free to decide whether to invoke this
measure case by case. "From this day forward," said Bishop Wilton D.
Gregory of Belleville, Ill., president of the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops, "no one known to have sexually abused a child will work
in the Catholic church in the United States. We bishops apologize to anyone
harmed by one of our priests, and for our tragically slow response in
recognizing the horror of sexual abuse."

The bishops also committed themselves to alerting civil authorities to all
accusations of sexual abuse of a minor by members of the clergy. Despite
strong objections from some bishops, they adopted a broad definition of
abuse to include even situations that did not involve force or direct
physical contact, but were still coercive. It was unclear how the bishops'
decisions would be received in the Vatican, though they seemed cautiously
optimistic that the policies would be endorsed. A Vatican spokesman said
earlier today that there would be no reaction to the decisions in Dallas
until Vatican officials could carefully examine them.

In addition to the policy changes, Bishop Gregory announced formation of an
outside review board, led by Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma, a Catholic, to
monitor compliance. Many victims of priests said they were disappointed
that the bishops failed to insist that all priests who had abused minors be
defrocked. "You take away their ministry, take them out of their jobs, but
they are still Roman Catholic priests," said Mark Serrano, a public
relations executive in Washington and a member of the board of the
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. David Clohessy, director of
the survivors network, said the bishops had made progress, but expressed
skepticism about how thoroughly the new policies would be carried out. "On
paper, there is no question that the church has made more extensive
promises and recommendations than ever, but it's still on paper," Mr.
Clohessy said. Recalling 1992, when the conference passed previous
recommendations on child abuse, Mr. Clohessy said, "Those statements looked
impressive, too."