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Dismissal Of Abusive Priests Is Proposed Catholic Bishops' Draft Policy Offers Exception
By a Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 5, 2002; Page A01
A committee of Roman Catholic bishops recommended yesterday the defrocking of any priest who sexually abuses children in the future but left open the possibility that some past offenders could remain in the priesthood.
The eight-member committee voted to allow the retention of priests who have committed a single offense, have undergone psychological treatment and have not been diagnosed as pedophiles. But Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the chairman, acknowledged that the committee was deeply divided over the issue. He predicted that there will be "a lot of debate" over the recommendation when the nation's approximately 300 active Catholic bishops vote on the policy at a pivotal meeting in Dallas next week.
...Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore said he will push for a "zero tolerance" policy requiring the complete dismissal of any priest who has committed even just one known sexual offense against a minor. "At our meeting in Dallas, I shall advocate a policy that says that one offense is one too many," he said...
Preamble
"Our beloved Church is experiencing a crisis without precedent in our times. From the depths of our hearts, we express great sorrow and profound regret for what the Catholic people have had to endure. The sexual abuse of children and young people by some priests and bishops, and the ways in which these crimes and sins were too often dealt with by bishops, have caused enormous pain, anger, and confusion. They have strained the bonds of trust that should unite us.
We, who have been given the responsibility of shepherding God's people, will, with God's help, continue to work to restore these bonds. Words alone cannot do it. It will result from the actions we take here in our General Assembly and at home in our dioceses.
The damage caused by sexual abuse is devastating and long-lasting. We are profoundly sorry for the times when we have deepened its pain by what we have done or by what we have failed to do. We reach out to those who suffer. We apologize to them and offer our help for the future. In such a matter, healing and reconciliation seem almost beyond human capacity. We dare to speak of these things only because of the hope, inspired by the Lord, that "for God, all things are possible" (Mt. 19.26).
The loss of trust becomes even more tragic when its consequence is a loss of the faith, which it is our sacred duty to foster. We make our own the words of our Holy Father that sexual abuse of young people is "by every standard wrong and rightly considered a crime by society; it is also an appalling sin in the eyes of God" (Pope John Paul II, Address to the Cardinals of the United States and Conference Officers, April 23, 2002).
Let there now be no doubt or confusion on anyone's part: For us, your bishops, our obligation to protect children and young people and to prevent sexual abuse flows from the mission and example given to us by Jesus Christ himself, in whose name we serve.
Jesus showed constant care for the vulnerable. He inaugurated his ministry with these words of the Prophet Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
In Matthew 25, the Lord made this part of his commission to his apostles and disciples when he told them that whenever they showed mercy and compassion to the least ones, they showed it to him.
This care Jesus extended in a tender and urgent way to children, rebuking his disciples for keeping them away from him: "Let the children come to me…" (Mt.19.14). And he uttered the grave warning about those who would lead the little ones astray, saying that it would be better for such a person "to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea" (Mt. 18.6).
We hear these words of the Lord as prophetic for this moment. With a firm intention to resolve this crisis, we Bishops commit ourselves to a pastoral outreach to repair the breach with those who have suffered sexual abuse. We renew our determination to provide safety and protection for children and young people in our church ministries and institutions. We pledge ourselves to act in a way that manifests the accountability we have to God's people and to one another in this grave matter; and we commit ourselves to reaching out to heal the trauma that victim/survivors and their families are suffering and the wound that the whole Church is experiencing. We acknowledge our need to be in dialogue with all Catholics, especially victims and parents, around this issue.
To fulfill these goals, our dioceses and our national conference will adopt and implement policies based upon the following:"...
(Full Text of Draft): http://www.usccb.org/bishops/charter.htm
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