Review board head says her March letter got bishops moving on audits

Published: 2004-05-12

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The head of the U.S. bishops' National Review Board on clergy sexual abuse said May 11 that a letter she wrote to the head of the bishops' conference March 29 prompted the U.S. bishops to decide they will discuss a second diocesan audit on sexual abuse this June instead of waiting until November. In the sharply worded March letter Justice Anne M. Burke, interim chairwoman of the board, complained the board was being "manipulated" as the bishops gave it no notice of their plans to defer decisions until November on a second diocesan abuse audit and a study into the nature and causes of clergy sexual abuse of minors. Burke wrote that the board found it "more than disingenuous" that board members were kept in the dark about the delay plans when board representatives met with the bishops' Administrative Committee in mid-March, even though the committee voted during that same meeting to defer those questions to the bishops' November general meeting. Burke told Catholic News Service that her letter led to a change in plans and a decision that the bishops would discuss the second audit in June, when they meet in Denver for what was originally scheduled as a retreat-style gathering devoted entirely to other matters.

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