March 05, 2006

Sex-abuse policies toughened

CHICAGO (IL)
The Catholic New World

By Michelle Martin
Staff writer

Cardinal George did not respond publicly to calls for his resignation from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, but archdiocesan officials said the cardinal has no intention of leaving his post in the wake of sexual abuse charges against Father Daniel McCormack.

Several new protocols to strengthen the already revamped policies were agreed to following a series of meetings with the state Department of Children and Family Services.

“I believe the cardinal has acted very responsibly,” said archdiocesan Chancellor Jimmy Lago. “We’ve got a whole approach to make sure that what happened with the McCormack case does not happen again. I think calls for his resignation are irresponsible. We’ve had good policies and practices going back 15 years.”

The cardinal has publicly apologized several times for his handling of McCormack’s case, and instituted a series of changes in procedures aimed at preventing a similar situation from happening again.

Posted by kshaw at March 5, 2006 07:23 AM