CHICAGO (IL)
Scripps Howard News Service
By PHILLIP ELLIOT
Scripps Howard News Service
June 15, 2005
- When they meet Thursday in Chicago, U.S. Catholic bishops will consider revisions in the their sexual abuse policies that some say weaken enforcement.
While the proposed revisions to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People do keep the "one strike" policy, they add that priests should be presumed innocent.
Some victims' advocates say the proposed changes give the bishops excessive latitude about reporting abuses to civil authorities.
Among the other proposed changes to the document:
-The role for theAbuse Tracker Review Board, the independent lay body, commissioned to oversee the child protection policy, would be reduced.
- Bishops will be allowed to self-audit compliance with those policies, unlike the current external auditors visiting each diocese.
- Abuse will be redefined and framed through the Sixth Commandment, which prohibits any sexual activity outside marriage.