Priests Who Abuse Will Lose Their Ministries
Bishops OK policy that stops short of defrocking clergy

By Cathleen Falsani
Chicago Sun-Times
June 15, 2002

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops overwhelmingly approved a mandatory national policy Friday stating that a priest who has sexually abused a child would be removed from ministry forever.

After two days of often passionate debate, the American bishops agreed by a 239-13 vote to implement a retroactive policy to harshly discipline abusive priests and deacons. The bishops stopped short, however, of mandating that all abusive priests be defrocked. They left that as an option and have sent a request to the Vatican that would allow them to speed the process of removing abusive priests.

"He will not be allowed to celebrate mass publicly, or to wear clerical garb, or to present himself publicly as a priest," said Bishop Wilton Gregory of Downstate Belleville, president of the conference.

"There will be severe consequences for any act of sexual abuse. No free pass. No second chances," Gregory said.

"This charter says if you abuse a child you will never be given another chance through our church to do it again."

Still, abuse survivors and other activists who had been pushing hard for a national zero-tolerance policy and greater accountability from bishops who knowingly allowed abusive clerics to move from parish to parish said the bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People did not go far enough.

"If your child is molested by a Roman Catholic priest, they are still a Roman Catholic priest in good standing in the United States of America," said Peter Isely of Milwaukee, a board member of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests based in Chicago. "We have a group of men that have never turned in a sex predator, and they are going to do the monitoring? That's simply not credible."

Linda Pieczynski, a spokeswoman for Call to Action, a left-leaning Catholic reform group, said the charter was gravely disappointing.

"It's hard to believe that they weakened the document that they went in with, but that's exactly what they did," Pieczynski said.

She was angered that the bishops did not adopt, in her view, a "zero-tolerance" policy.

Chicago's Cardinal Francis George said the charter's policy for disciplining abusive priests is "about as zero as you can get it."

"He may never publicly present himself as a priest, he may never wear a collar, he may never have any public ministry. What's missing there?" George said.

Some critics of the bishops' new policy said without mandatory secularization for all abusive priests, the church effectively is still supporting them, as bishops are required by canon law to provide shelter and a means of basic physical support for their priests.

George said he understands the critics' point of view but doesn't think defrocking every priest who has abused is the right answer.

"It's easier if a man is 40 years old or 50 years old, the chances of him finding a job on his own is better. But if you have a man who is 78 years old, in a wheelchair and in a nursing home, I'm not sure what purpose is served by laicizing him. I just question the motive there," George said.

The Chicago cardinal had hoped the policy would include tough provisions for disciplining bishops who have mishandled cases of abuse. He introduced a proposal for an amendment to hold bishops accountable for their misdeeds, but in the end, the amendment that was approved fell short of what he wanted.

The charter establishes a national review board of lay Catholic parents that will audit every diocese and bishop to make sure the charter's provisions are being implemented properly. That committee will be led by Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, and includes Illinois Appellate Justice Anne Burke.

The conference's Committee on Bishops Life and Ministry also will study the role bishops played in creating the current sex abuse scandal and present a report at the conference's next meeting in November, George said, adding that he expects further policies about disciplining bishops to be discussed then.

"In the discussions [this week] it became clear that this is what we could support at this time, and that's enough," George said. "I'm quite content with that."

Pieczynski was not. "So the bishops still get to make all of the decisions--that's how we got here in the first place," she said.

Not every victim advocate thought the bishops' actions were a failure.

"The document is the best document the church has ever put out on this issue," said David Clohessy, SNAP's national director, who testified before the bishops Thursday about being abused by a priest when he was a boy.

The charter also mandates that:

**Any allegation of sexual abuse against a minor be turned over to civil authorities to be investigated.

**Confidentiality agreements between victims and dioceses be eliminated unless the victim asks that the agreement be maintained.

**Every diocese will have a review board with a majority of members being lay members not employed by the diocese, that will assist the bishop in assessing allegations, making recommendations on priests' fitness for ministry, and regularly reviewing policies and procedures for dealing with sexual abuse, past and present.

**The creation of a new arm of the USCCB, the Office for the Protection of Children and Minors, that will assist individual dioceses in the implementation of safe environment programs. The office also will publish an annual report that will point out any diocese or bishop that may not be complying with the charter.

The charter will be reviewed again in two years, Gregory said.

Bishops also approved a set of "essential norms" mirroring the basics of the charter that they will send to the Vatican for approval. If the norms are approved, they will become church law for the American dioceses, with the authority of the Holy See to enforce them.

"My heart is with our children who are truly a gift from God and whose trust and innocence we vow to protect," Gregory said. "Deep feelings remain in our hearts for those whose lives have been so tragically affected by the sins, the crimes and the omissions of those acting in the name of the church. Your pain will not be forgotten."