Bishops' sex abuse norms provide procedures for judging cases

Published: 2004-01-28

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- To cope with the U.S. clergy sex abuse crisis, Catholic leaders have delved into the church's legal system to develop norms to punish offenders while offering due process to the accused. The system includes cooperation with civil authorities and involves independent church procedures and penalties. Throughout, the norms give the local bishop powers to investigate and process cases involving priests and deacons. To help the bishops, 350 canon lawyers were trained in 2003 to apply the special rules for dealing with clergy sex abuse, said Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. These trained jurists can serve as judges, lawyers for the defense and prosecutors, known in church language as "promoters of justice." The bishops' special rules are called the "Essential Norms" and they provide the legal framework for the bishops' policies outlined in the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People." The norms have Vatican approval and are up for review at the end of 2004 by the entire body of U.S. bishops. All actions taken under the norms are automatically reviewed by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has overall church responsibility for deciding cases of clergy sex abuse of minors.

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