Poll: Bishops policy falls short

MSNBC ^ | June 19, 2002 | Richard Morin and Claudia Deane

[NYer]

SLIGHTLY MORE than half of all American Catholics and a larger majority of non-Catholics said they disapproved of the policy passed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last week in Dallas, which would permanently bar abusive priests from all church-related public duties but would not automatically remove them from the priesthood.        Two-thirds of Catholics said the bishops’ guidelines fail to do enough to address the problem of child abuse by priests, a view shared by three-fourths of the general public.

Just pulling them out of the public eye won’t do it at all,” said Sharon Franckey, 44, a Catholic homemaker in Eureka, Ill. “I think they should lose their priesthood.”        But the survey also found that a growing majority of Catholics trust their church to handle the issue of abusive priests in the future. And the overall rating of the church among Catholics remains broadly favorable. Taken together, these findings suggest that Catholics’ faith in their church remains strong, even as their doubts about church leaders continue to grow.         ‘VERY ANGRY’        Still, the survey results and follow-up interviews with Catholics who participated in the poll just as strongly suggest that the bishops’ actions last week did little to heal the deep wounds inflicted by the ever-widening sex scandal.        “I have been very angry,” said Joel Traeger, 27, a financial services adviser in Cary, N.C. “This was the icing on the cake. It was as if the hypocrisy had reached a head. It turned me off to the religion I was born with.”        The bishops themselves were singled out for criticism. Barely half of the Catholics interviewed expressed satisfaction with the leadership they provide, while more than four in 10 were dissatisfied. And the proportion of Catholics who held a favorable view of their own bishop had dropped 11 percentage points since late March, to 65 percent.        “It seemed like everybody in the conference had a different idea,” said Van Durstock, 67, a retired United Parcel Service truck driver in Taylor Mill, Ky. “It seemed a lot of them were worried about ifs, ands and buts, different ways of dealing with wording.”        The words Durstock used to propose his own policy were simple and direct: “One strike and you should be out, if you’re a bishop, cardinal or priest.”

[NYer]

It will take a long time before catholics regain faith in the hierarchy.
It's time to prune the dead wood.

[woofer]

Pruning the deadwood might help, but purging the Seminaries is the only way to weed out the rotten apples. The problem is systemic. Pedophiles, whether homosexual or of "other persuasion" have found a haven in the priesthood where, after you've gone through the motions, will supply you with young candidates from which to choose your victim(s).

[tessalu]

The Mother of Harlots.

[Digger]

------The fox protecting the hen house-------