UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Michael Sean Winters | Jun. 11, 2015
The Holy Father’s approval of a new procedure and process for holding bishops accountable if they fail in their responsibilities to protect children, and to assign this task to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is an enormous step forward in the Church’s long effort to rid itself of the scourge of clergy sex abuse and to create a culture that sees the protection of children as one of its highest duties. The issue, given its gravity, has become a threshold issue for many Catholics, that is to say, if the Church hierarchy can’t deal with us, many people in the pews will not listen to anything else the Church’s leaders have to say.
The key issue here is the accountability of bishops. As Msgr. Stephen Rossetti said this morning in the Washington Post article on the story, “It’s a major thing it’s putting bishops on notice. ‘If you don’t deal with this, you have to face the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,’ and no one wants to face the CDF.” The Church’s canons have consequences, and now they have consequences for bishops who drag their feet or otherwise compromise the Church’s effort to deal with this insidious problem.
It is hard to overstate the degree to which bishops have not previously felt accountable. Of course, many, indeed I think most, bishops feel a deep sense of accountability – to the Word of God, to the traditions and teachings of the Church and, importantly, to the people entrusted to their care. But, the clerical culture does not always strengthen that last, vital sense of accountability. By way of example, a priest friend of mine recalls studying in Rome. He was at a reception and fell into conversation with a bishop. The bishop asked him where he was from and he named the diocese. The bishop then said something about that city being in a particular state, but not being an American, he understandably got the state wrong. My friend gently corrected him, naming the correct location of the diocese. His superior, who was part of the conversation, then chastised him: “Never contradict a bishop!” If a bishop cannot be corrected on a small matter of no consequence, multiply that incident by a million over the years, and you will have an insight into what is wrong in the curia.
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