Bishops 'preparing for the truth' with national abuse reports

Published: 2004-02-20

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- "We're preparing for the truth," the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said a week before the release of two major national reports on the nature, extent and causes of clergy sexual abuse of minors in the U.S. Catholic Church over the past half-century. In a phone teleconference with several national media representatives Feb. 20, USCCB president Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., said the reports to be released Feb. 27 marked another phase in the bishops' efforts to "be sure the steps that we've taken will prevent this problem from ever occurring again." One of the reports, commissioned by the all-lay National Review Board under the mandate of the bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," is to present data on the nature and scope of the sexual abuse of minors by priests or deacons from 1950 through 2002. That study was conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. The second report is by the review board itself. It is to give the preliminary views of the board, based on its interviews with scores of experts, on the causes and context behind clerical sexual abuse of minors.

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