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	Group Urges Bishops to Better Monitor Clergy Accused of Sexual Abuse By Peter Smith psmith@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal [Kentucky] May 12, 2006 http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20060512/NEWS01/605120387/1008/NEWS01 A national advocate for victims of sexual abuse by clergy says Catholic bishops still have unfinished business in responding to the crisis, such as better monitoring of fellow bishops accused of abuse. David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, visited Louisville yesterday for a series of events with the local chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a group seeking reform in the Catholic Church. "No abusive bishops are being defrocked," Clohessy said in a news conference across the street from the Cathedral of the Assumption. "Few disclose their whereabouts. Fewer still, we fear, are being monitored." After he spoke, he and five members of Voice of the Faithful read prayers as they took shelter from the rain beneath an overhang. "We choose to pray for healing, respectfully acknowledging that some survivors are unable to pray because of the nature of their abuse," chapter leader Vince Grenough said. The group made several stops at churches and other Catholic sites around the archdiocese, some of them scenes of sexual abuse by clergy, in what they called a "pilgrimage of healing." Clohessy also was scheduled to speak at a Voice of the Faithful meeting last night. Colleen Powell of Louisville said the pilgrimage is a "way to speak up for those who don't have a voice." While dioceses can remove accused priests from ministry, only the Vatican supervises bishops directly. But Clohessy said bishops still can follow through on their 2002 pledge to hold each other accountable. Clohessy pointed to the case of former Lexington Bishop J. Kendrick Williams, who resigned in 2002 when he was accused in three lawsuits of sexual or emotional abuse when he was a priest in the Archdiocese of Louisville. The archdiocese later settled with the three men as part of a $25.7 million settlement with 243 plaintiffs. Williams has denied abusing anyone, and has not faced criminal charges. He has not done any public ministry since resigning. Clohessy called on Louisville Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly, the head of the province of dioceses that includes Lexington, to at least issue a public call for any people with concerns about Williams' behavior to step forward. Clohessy said Williams should be monitored in a secure facility. Cecelia Price, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Louisville, said Williams has voluntarily stopped doing public ministry since his resignation and noted that creating any restrictions would be the responsibility of the Vatican. "Though Archbishop Kelly does not have the authority to 'supervise' Bishop Williams in the sense that Mr. Clohessy is describing, he is in regular contact with him," she said in an e-mailed statement. "If Archbishop Kelly detected a problem or issue (and he has not), he does believe that it would be his responsibility to report this" to the Vatican. Bill Ryan, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said "in at least a couple (cases), the bishops denied the accusations" and did not face charges. "I don't know what one expects after that if they denied the allegations and nothing else has been proven," he said. But he added that a diocesan review board could make a finding of fact or a recommendation in a bishop's case. Reporter Peter Smith can be reached at (502) 582-4469.
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