Chicago official describes monitoring system for accused priests

Published: 2004-07-06

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Dioceses should have systems for monitoring clergy who have been accused of child sex abuse but whose cases have not been resolved yet, said the Chicago archdiocesan vicar for priests. "Although some of these priests may be innocent, we as a church cannot take the risk of not monitoring them until canonical trials are completed," wrote Father James Kaczorowski in the June issue of the Vicars for Clergy Newsletter. In the same issue, Kathleen McChesney, executive director of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection, said the church cannot succumb to "issue fatigue" regarding clergy sex abuse of minors because "the plight of victims is too grave to be relegated to history." The quarterly newsletter is published in Washington by the bishops' Secretariat for Priestly Life and Ministry and the St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Md., a treatment center for clergy with mental health and abuse problems. Father Kaczorowski said that monitoring is a controversial issue, but the Chicago Archdiocese established such a program for clergy temporarily removed from active ministry pending the outcome of their cases.

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