CHICAGO (IL)
Los Angeles Times
By Larry B. Stammer, Times Staff Writer
CHICAGO — With little debate, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops Friday extended by five years safeguards to protect children and youth from sexual predators within the church.
The decision by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meeting here for their spring session, reaffirmed the U.S. church's "zero tolerance" policy hammered out at the height of the sexual abuse scandal in 2002.
Under the rules, a credible accusation of sexual abuse against any priest or deacon requires his removal from public ministry. In cases where the church confirms an allegation, the removal becomes permanent and the accused can be stripped of ordinations.
Churches also must inform civil authorities of such accusations.
In a secret written ballot, the bishops voted 228-4 to renew and revise the landmark Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, and 229-3 for rules, known as norms, to carry it out. The conference also committed to spending an initial $1 million to finance a $3-million to $5-million study on the causes and contexts of child sexual abuse, which the bishops hoped would also help society in general.
Church leaders said their action showed that progress had been made against sex abuse. "The light is at the end of the tunnel, although with sin and brokenness there is never an end," Minneapolis and St. Paul Archbishop Harry J. Flynn, chairman of the bishops' Committee on Child Sexual Abuse, told reporters after the vote.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, commended the bishops' actions of the last two years that have resulted in the removal of 700 to 900 priests credibly accused of child abuse. But he attributed the progress largely to victims' willingness to speak out, not to church vigilance.