UNITED STATES
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 11, 2006
A lay reform group has asked the leaders of America's Roman Catholic bishops to step aside temporarily amid accusations that they violated national guidelines for handling clergy sex-abuse allegations.
Bishop William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Cardinal Francis George, vice president, said they will stay in their posts.
This week, Skylstad's diocese in Spokane, Wash., disclosed an allegation by a woman who said the bishop sexually abused her more than 40 years ago when she was a minor.
Meanwhile, George faces criticism for mishandling abuse allegations against Rev. Daniel McCormack, the former pastor of St. Agatha parish on Chicago's West Side.
"He's acknowledged inadequacy of a response early in the McCormack case," said Chicago archdiocese spokesman Jim Dwyer. But George plans to continue to serve as the bishops' vice president, Dwyer said.