Print Issue: November 21, 2002

Bishops Adopt Revised Charter, Norms; Vatican Approval Expected

By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer

WASHINGTON, D.C. - How the Catholic Church in the United States will deal with cases of sexual abuse of minors by clergy has been codified, but the credibility of U.S. bishops, hurt by disclosures this year, is still fragile.

U.S bishops cast votes at their fall general meeting in Washington Nov.13. After a discussion led by Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, the bishops overwhelmingly approved revised norms for clergy sex abuse. (CNS phot by Bob Roller)

That sums up the dominant story of the annual plenary meeting of the bishops of the United States Nov. 11-14.

While other important documents were passed, including statements on war with Iraq, Hispanic ministry and the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the texts dealing with sexual abuse by clergy overshadowed most of the meeting.

A revised "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" and revised norms to implement the charter were overwhelmingly approved by the bishops and emphatically defended.

"The commitment of the bishops of the United States to the protection of children and young people remains absolutely firm. Any priest who has abused a child or a young person will be permanently removed from ministry. We have not in any way backed off from that commitment," said Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn.

The revisions came about through a joint Vatican-U.S. bishops' commission, on which he served. The commission worked in October to bring the texts, created last June at a Dallas bishops' meeting, into harmony with canon (church) law.

"We have made explicit what was implicit in the Dallas charter and norms," Bishop Lori said.

On Nov. 13 the bishops approved the revised charter 249-2 with four abstentions and the revised norms 246-7 with six abstentions. They also passed a statement saying they would hold one another accountable as bishops to live up to the charter, if necessary with "fraternal correction," and spelled out what should happen if a bishop is the one accused of abuse of a minor.

Archbishop John F. Donoghue, who voted in favor of the revised charter and the revised norms, said he believes the bishops now have a good document, which protects children and young people and also protects the rights of priests.

"I voted for it, of course, and I think the document as we have it now will be approved by Rome because we incorporated what came out of the eight-man mixed commission," he said. "I think Rome will approve it now and I think that is good."

The bishops left the Washington meeting with a greater sense of closure regarding the texts than they did in Dallas.

"Everyone I spoke to among the bishops thought it was a good document now. It protects the rights of priests, of children and of young people."

The press was chided for reporting that the revisions weakened the Dallas commitment, but the texts required extensive explanation and clarification during press briefings.

For example, the new norms state that bishops will abide by civil laws in reporting cases of sexual abuse of minors. But in about a fourth of dioceses, including those in Georgia, clergy are not required by state law to report sexual abuse of minors. The charter, on the other hand, specifies that all cases alleging sexual abuse of a minor will be reported to civil authorities.

To reconcile the discrepancy, bishops said that the charter and the norms have to be looked at as a unit, with the charter containing the spirit and moral commitment of the bishops, and the norms expressing it in a legal form.

"The norms represent the minimum. The charter represents the full expanse of our commitment," Bishop Lori said.

If, as expected, the norms receive formal approval, or recognitio, from the Holy See, they will become binding particular law for the church in the United States, including Eastern Catholic eparchies. The norms and charter will apply both to diocesan and religious order priests.

Members of the mixed commission said they expect the approval to come quickly, possibly before the end of the year, because four Vatican prelates worked with four U.S. bishops to draft the revisions.

In essence, the revisions assert the paramount authority of the diocesan bishop to address each case where a priest or deacon has sexually abused a minor.

The charter and norms retain a broad definition of sexual abuse, which includes not only physical acts of molestation or rape, but non-physical acts of using a minor for sexual gratification, like showing pornography to a child or teen. However, the final wording differs from the Dallas definition, which was deemed too vague.

At the same time, the revised norms add clarity and specific procedures about due process for the accused priest or deacon. A canonical process is now going to be used to judge the facts in a case of clerical abuse and to impose church penalties, such as removing the accused from the clerical state.

The canonical, or church, process is separate from and in addition to any civil or criminal case against an alleged abuser.

"We have to go back to our priests and explain to them that their rights are better protected, while respecting also the rights of victims," said Chicago Cardinal Francis George.

The texts include mandatory creation of a local review board in every diocese, a majority of whom are lay Catholics not employed by, but in communion with, the church. The review board will serve as a "confidential consultative body" to the diocesan bishop.

The review board will assist the bishop in preliminary investigation of cases of sexual abuse of minors involving clergy, give him advice on cases, and keep diocesan sexual abuse policies and procedures up to date. This is an administrative role. The diocesan Promoter of Justice, a canon lawyer, is encouraged to participate in review board meetings.

The next level is juridical. After the preliminary investigation, which is supposed to be quick and objective, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is notified and a special church tribunal, which will likely be set up at the Province level, will handle the factual investigation of credible allegations of sexual abuse involving a priest or deacon and possible canonical penalties. This written court procedure employs due process in canon law.

The revised norms add that a bishop "shall" seek special permission from the Vatican to pursue canonical penalties against an offending priest or deacon when the statute of limitations has expired, which in canon law is 10 years after the victim is 18. Many cases of child abuse are not acknowledged publicly by the victim until 20 or 30 years after the event.

U.S. bishops said that in saying a bishop "shall" seek an exception to the statute of limitations, the Vatican gave a doorway to pursue cases against priests that are decades old, in order to ensure offenders are removed from ministry and from the clerical state if necessary.

A bishop can also seek to remove an offender from ministry and the clerical state using other procedures available to him if he doesn't receive Vatican permission to pursue a case after the statute of limitations has ended.

A priest or deacon who acknowledges an act of sexual abuse of a minor can also voluntarily seek laicization.

In June the bishops expressed humble acknowledgement that they were shamed by the revelations of over 300 past and recent cases of sexual abuse by priests and bishops and angered that in some dioceses bishops had not removed offenders from ministry, leading to a tragic expansion of the number of victims. A tone of contrition and the emotional testimony of victims characterized the Dallas meeting.

Now, however, Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., conference president, in his opening address struck quite a different note, appealing for church unity, calling some who are offering opinions on the controversy "false prophets" who are striking at the shepherds to scatter the flock, and praising faithful priests.

"As bishops, we should have no illusions about the intent of some people who have shown more than a casual interest in the discord we have experienced within the Church this year," he said. "There are those outside the Church who are hostile to the very principles and teachings that the Church espouses, and have chosen this moment to advance the acceptance of practices and ways of life that the Church cannot and will never condone. Sadly, even among the baptized, there are those at extremes within the Church who have chosen to exploit the vulnerability of the bishops in this moment to advance their own agendas. One cannot fail to hear in the distance - and sometimes very nearby - the call of the false prophet, 'let us strike the shepherd and scatter the flock.' We bishops need to recognize this call and name it clearly for what it is."

He was applauded by the bishops for that, and when he said, "We need to pay more than lip service to the truth that the overwhelming majority of priests are faithful servants of the Lord. I pray that I am worthy of my priests . . . God bless our priests! They have surely blessed us!"

The reassertion of the bishop's authority and questions of confidentiality versus secrecy prompted criticism from survivors groups and church reform organizations.

"The guidelines in canon law continue to put the bishop in the position of making all the decisions. We have not seen anything that leads us to believe our bishops are going to do a consistently better job than they did in the past," said Sheila Daley, co-director of Call To Action, a Chicago-based church reform group that was one of many to protest during the bishops' meeting.

(For the complete document go to www.usccb.org/bishops/normsrevised.htm)