Print Issue: June 20, 2002

No Second Chances: Bishops Set Zero Tolerance Policy, Standards For Protecting Children

By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer

DALLAS - The bishops of the United States overwhelmingly approved a charter for the church June 14 which requires that any priest or deacon who has sexually abused a minor be permanently removed from ministry.

The vote was 239 in favor to 13 opposed. The bishops of the Atlanta Province were in favor of the charter.

The bishops also approved norms that codify the document. The charter went into effect immediately. The norms will be sent to the Vatican.

Over two days of meetings, including eight hours in an executive session and committee work through the night, a revised draft was brought to the table June 14. Amendments were being made to the text until the last minute by the ad hoc bishops' committee chaired by Archbishop Harry Flynn of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Neither the bishops nor the hundreds of reporters covering the meeting via a large-screen television feed into a media center had the text as a single document until after it was approved.

The consequence of permanent removal from ministry, so-called "zero tolerance," applies whether the instance of abuse of a minor occurred in the past, present or future.

Quoting Pope John Paul II that "there is no place in the priesthood or religious life for those who would harm the young," the charter provides no exceptions even if a single instance of abuse of a minor occurred in the past and a priest received rehabilitative treatment and returned to years of unblemished ministry.

"As Catholics, we do believe in forgiveness. We do believe in the power of conversion. An abuser, who recognizes the profound harm he has committed, and who has shown remorse, can indeed be forgiven for his sins. He just doesn't get a second chance to do it again. Period," said Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In a somber atmosphere that was wrenched by the testimonies of four adult victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse, the bishops clearly strove to set aside nuances in favor of a focused and unified message that the Catholic Church in the United States will put the safety of children first-and that the church has failed until now to do that.

Bishop Gregory opened the June 13-15 meeting laying the responsibility for this "very grave crisis, perhaps the gravest we have faced," directly upon the U.S. bishops, who, he said, failed to address the crime of sexual abuse of children and young people by priests and church personnel. His address was penitential, making a confession on behalf of the bishops, asking forgiveness from victims, their families, all lay Catholics, Religious, deacons and faithful priests, and then stating the bishops' intent to act decisively now to protect children and young people.

Steering the grueling sessions, he saw the meeting conclude with the nearly unanimous vote in favor of the charter, which he called "a solid foundation" to move forward and "end the scourge of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in America."

The charter's first three provisions address victims/survivors. Other sections address how dioceses will respond to allegations, how the U.S. bishops will be held accountable for implementing the charter, and how open communications, safety education, criminal background checks for lay workers, screening/evaluations for seminary candidates, and seminary visitations will continue to expand on the commitment.

Bishop Gregory also announced Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a Catholic attorney, would head a national review board to assess annually implementation of the charter in every diocese.

Even with passage of the "zero tolerance" charter, however, the loss of credibility of the bishops and the anger and disillusionment is such that organizations of victims/survivors criticized the document and were openly skeptical that bishops will be held accountable to put it in effect.

Bishop Gregory tried to speak forcefully to that issue when he spoke to reporters right after the charter was approved.

"Bishops will not tolerate even one act of sexual abuse. There will be severe consequences for any act of sexual abuse. No free pass. No second chances. No free strike. For those who think or say that this is not zero tolerance, then they have not read it carefully. We have voted to take every step possible, as bishops, within our canon laws and our powers, to eliminate any loophole that an abuser could try to use," he said.

The charter has a broad definition of sexual abuse, taken from a document of the Canadian Conference of Bishops. It describes sexual abuse as contacts or interactions between a child and an adult when the child is being used as an object of sexual gratification for the adult. A child is abused whether or not there is explicit force, "whether or not it involves physical or genital contact, whether or not it is initiated by the child, and whether or not there is discernible harmful outcome."

The definition, for example, could include a child being shown pornography, which some victims/survivors say is how their abuser initiated them.

The charter states that every Catholic diocese in the United States and every Eastern rite eparchy (the equivalent of a diocese) will report any allegation of sexual abuse of a minor to civil authorities and cooperate with their investigation.

Since reporting laws vary from state to state, if the person is no longer a minor, the diocese will cooperate with public authorities about reporting. In every instance, the diocese will advise victims of their right to make a report to public authorities and support that right.

The charter also delineates a church process for removing a priest or deacon from ministry, which is in addition to any criminal or civil process that results from the allegation.

During a preliminary investigation of a complaint, the bishops said the civil investigation is the first priority. The bishop can remove the priest or deacon of his ministerial duties promptly based on the preliminary investigation. He can refer the alleged offender for medical and psychological evaluation if that doesn't interfere with the civil investigation.

If an accusation is unfounded, "every step possible will be taken to restore the good name of the priest or deacon."

If sexual abuse of a minor is admitted or is established after an appropriate investigation in accord with canon law, the priest or deacon will be pemanently removed from ministry.

In addition, the priest or deacon may request dispensation from holy orders or the bishop may request the priest or deacon be dismissed from the clerical state even without his consent.

If the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state is not applied because the priest is elderly or infirm, he will "lead a life of prayer and penance." He will not be permitted to celebrate Mass publicly, to wear clerical garb or present himself publicly as a priest.

The charter requires every diocese to have an outreach to anyone who has been sexually abused as a minor by clergy or a church worker and to provide counseling, spiritual assistance and support as needed, including direct pastoral care by the bishop or his representative.

Each diocese also must establish a review board, with a majority of lay members not employed by the diocese, to assist the bishop in assessing allegations and fitness for ministry, reviewing diocesan policies for dealing with sexual abuse of minors and advising him on responding to these cases.

Because confidentiality agreements have contributed to an atmosphere of secrecy, dioceses will no longer enter into them when settling legal cases unless the victim/survivor requests it for "grave and substantial reasons."

At the diocesan level, a communications policy is to be formed that is transparent and open; clear standards of conduct are to be established and publicized for clergy and others working with children and young people; lay workers and seminary candidates are to be screened through criminal background checks and other means; and "safe environment" programs are to be established.

Nationally, an Office for Child and Youth Protection will be formed at the bishops' headquarters in Washington, D.C., and it will work with dioceses to form strong local programs and to ensure accountability. It will publish an annual public report and name dioceses not in compliance with the charter.

The national review board, headed by Gov. Keating, will approve this annual report. It will also commission two studies, one on the causes and context of the current crisis and another on the nature and scope of the problem within the Catholic Church in the United States, including statistics on perpetrators and victims.

The charter will be reviewed in two years by the bishops' conference with the advice of the national review board to ensure its effectiveness.

"This is a defining moment for us as bishops, a moment for us to declare our resolve to put a plan in place to root out a cancer in our church," Archbishop Flynn said when he presented the document for a vote. "We must not lose sight of our solemn purpose - to protect children."

Only 13 bishops voted against it, and even fewer spoke against it from the floor. Two who did, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Sullivan of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Cardinal Avery Dulles, a theologian who is a non-voting member, said they thought it would harm the trust and confidentiality necessary between a bishop and his priests, and would retroactively punish priests who self-incriminated themselves in the past, underwent treatment and successfully returned to ministry.

Bishop Sullivan also objected that the bishops did not apply penalties to themselves.

Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., proposed a lay-dominated diocesan panel to deal with the church aspect of each case individually, rather than codifying a policy of permanent removal from ministry to apply to all cases. The panel could bring about much-needed lay involvement and also be an avenue for victims' voices to be heard regarding the consequences on the perpetrator.

"Are we afraid to trust such a panel to make judgments?" he asked. "We may be abandoning restorative justice for a 'one-size-fits-all'" policy.

However, the pulse of the moment seemed to be taken by Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua of Philadelphia who spoke strongly in favor of the document.

"In this crisis we have to put the common good of the church first . . . that our children and youth will be safe as much as humanly possible. We need strong support of this charter to begin to restore the credibility of the church."

The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People is posted at www.usccb.org/bishops/charter.htm.