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	George Is Urged to Leave Bishops' Post By Manya A. Brachear mbrachear@tribune.com Chicago Tribune [United States] March 11, 2006 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0603110149 mar11,1,2445469.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed 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. On Friday, national leaders for Voice of the Faithful said both bishops had failed to comply with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young Adults and should temporarily step down during an independent investigation. "This situation requires immediate action by the [conference] to name an interim leader of unquestioned integrity and commitment to the charter," the statement said. Local Voice of the Faithful leaders decided this week that they would not yet follow the lead of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who in February called on George to resign as archbishop of Chicago. "Cardinal George is only one player in a broken system, broken universally as well as locally where even the charter's author chose to ignore his own document," wrote Janet Hauter, chairwoman of the group's Chicago chapter.
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