CHICAGO (IL)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
CHICAGO — U.S. Catholic bishops yesterday overwhelmingly approved a revised charter for dealing with clerical sexual abuse, asserting that the changes are based on the knowledge and experience gained over the last three years and that their “zero-tolerance” policy for abusers will continue.
Meeting here for their annual spring conference, the bishops said the revisions are relatively minor and part of a mandated review of the guidelines established in Dallas in 2002.
Members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also voted to contribute up to $1 million from a reserve fund toward the estimated $2.5 million cost of a study that will explore the “causes and context” of the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the church since 2002.
“We need to understand what has happened to make sure we do whatever we can so that it doesn’t happen again,” Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson said.
Although the revised Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People ultimately was approved by a landslide vote of 228-4, there was some pointed dissent before the ballot.
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago described some of the policies as “rather draconian,” and Bishop Emeritus Edward Hughes of Metuchen, N.J., claimed that the charter has fostered a “lack of trust” between bishops and their priests.
Zero-tolerance essentially means “an accusation is tantamount to being judged guilty,” Bishop Hughes said, and claimed that church policies will fail if good priests are afraid to cooperate or collaborate with their bishops.