Church Documents

Readers should note that the so-called Mixed Commission (whose work was rubber-stamped at the 11/02 USCCB meeting in DC) revised the Dallas Norms to bring them in line with Pope John Paul II's 4/30/01 Apostolic Letter, its attached Norms, and Cardinal Ratzinger's 5/18/01 explanatory letter (see those documents below). Our intention here is to make available all the documents referred to in the Charter and Norms, and other documents that reflect the church's approach to sexual abuse by its priests and related issues.

* Instructio de modo procedendi in causis sollicitationis (Instruction on the manner of proceeding in cases of solicitation), by Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val y Zulueta, Secretary of the Congregation of the Holy Office, approved by Pope Pius XI (6/9/22) - Latin and English; child abuse is included in the section on The Worst Crime.

* Religiosorum Institutio (Instruction on the Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders), issued by the Sacred Congregation for Religious (2/2/61) - English

* Crimen Sollicitationis (The Offense of Sollicitation), by Cardinal Ottaviani, approved by Pope John XXIII (3/16/62) - Latin and English

* Conrad Baars, The Role of the Church in the Causation, Treatment and Prevention of the Crisis in the Priesthood (1971)

* Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, a CDF letter to the bishops by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Archbishop Alberto Bovone (10/1/86) - English

* Pastor Bonus (The Good Shepherd), Pastor Apostolic Constitution by Pope John Paul II (6/28/88) Latin and English, in which the CDF's jurisdiction over "more serious" offenses is briefly described in Section III, article 52.

* Statement on Sexual Abuse of Children, by Mark E. Chopko, General Counsel for the U.S. Catholic Conference, February 9, 1988 (see the USCC's own typed version in the Sylvia Demarest archive; another typed version in the Tom Doyle Archive, and the version published in Origins [17:36 (February 18, 1988): p. 624].

* Statement on Child Abuse, by the Administrative Committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 5, 1989 (see the typescript in the Tom Doyle Archive and the version published in Origins [19:24 (November 16, 1989): pp. 394-95].

* NCCB Guidelines and Other Considerations in Pedophilia Cases, by Bishop A. James Quinn, at Midwest Canon Law Society Meeting (4/23-25/90) Transcript [note in particular the passage (PDF p. 31) on sending documents that "you really don't want people to see" to the Vatican embassy in Washington "because they have immunity"]

* Statement on the Sexual Abuse of Children, by Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk, President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, June 20, 1992.

* Resolution, by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 19, 1992 (see the typescript in the Tom Doyle Archive and the version published in the Pastoral Letters and Statements of the United States Catholic Bishops, Volume VI, 1989-1997, ed. Hugh Joseph Nolan and Patrick W. Carey (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1998), pp. 484-85.

* Canonical Delicts Involving Sexual Misconduct and Dismissal from the Clerical State, by Msgr. John A. Alesandro, published by the NCCB/USCB (1995) {1}{2}{3}{4}

* Agendi Ratio (Plan of Proceeding in an Investigation of Beliefs), by Cardinals Ratzinger and Bertone (6/29/97) - Latin

* Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children and Suggestions for Pastoral Ministers, a statement by the then-NCCB Committee on Marriage and Family (9/10/97) - English

* Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (Safeguarding the Sanctity of the Sacraments), Apostolic Letter by Pope John Paul II with related Norms Regarding the More Serious Offenses Reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (4/30/01) - Latin of the letter and English translation of the letter and the norms, with another earlier translation of the Norms for comparison. The letter is posted only in Latin on the Vatican Web site, and without its attached Norms, which seem never to have been published in Latin.

* Letter Regarding the More Serious Offenses Reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by Cardinals Ratzinger and Bertone (5/18/01) - Latin and English

* Early Draft of the Dallas Charter - (6/4/02)
* Dallas Charter - (6/14/02)
* Bishop Wilton Gregory's statement on the Charter (6/14/02) and statements by other bishops
* Dallas Norms - (6/14/02)

* Exchange of Letters between Cardinal Re and Bishop Gregory about Vatican reaction to the Dallas Norms (10/14-15/02)
* Changes in the Norms Made by the Mixed Commission - (10/29/02)
* Comparative Text of the Dallas Norms and the Mixed Commission Norms

* A Statement of Episcopal Commitment, USCCB (11/13/02)

* Final Norms (12/8/02)
* Final Charter (12/8/02)

* National Review Board and John Jay College, Cleric Survey and Victim Survey (early draft)
* National Review Board and John Jay College, Victim Survey, Cleric Survey, Diocesan Profile, FAQs, and Related Instructions (final versions, originally posted by Roman Catholic Faithful)

* A Manual for Canonical Processes for the Resolution of Complaints of Clerical Sexual Abuse of Minors, from Msgr. Charles Scicluna's seminar in Washington DC (2/03)

* Cardinals' Oath on Receiving Biretta, Zenit (10/21/03)

* Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People; Essential Norms; and Statement of Episcopal Commitment, USCCB (6/05)

* Comparison of 2002 and 2006 Essential Norms Texts, USCCB (promulgated 5/5/06)