US: Roman Catholic bishops in the US overwhelmingly approved the Vatican's version of a policy on paedophile priests yesterday, with the Boston cardinal at the heart of the American scandal arguing for both apology and forgiveness.
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops voted 246 in favour of the Vatican revisions of a document that seeks to reconcile the American church's stated intention to protect children from clerics' sexual abuse with church law.
Seven bishops voted against the policy and six abstained after more than 90 minutes of debate. The issue has pervaded the bishops' conference, which began on Monday in Washington.
The document now will be sent to the Vatican so that it can be recognised as a particular church law for the US.
"I think it is essential for us to both apologise and to ask forgiveness," Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston said. Court documents indicate he knowingly transferred sexually abusive priests to dioceses without informing parishioners.
"It is important to do this in the context of the local church," Cardinal Law said. "It can't be done once for all . . . the need for that is continually present." The paedophilia scandal came to light in Cardinal Law's archdiocese last January when court documents and media reports revealed that abusive Catholic clerics had been allowed to continue in ministry. Some 300 priests across the US have left their posts over sexual abuse allegations.
The document the bishops approved yesterday - "Essential Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests or Deacons", or more simply, the Norms - has been criticised by abuse victims as a step back from a US church policy crafted at a June bishops' meeting in Dallas.
The revised Norms provide for a quick preliminary investigation of accusations of child sexual abuse by priests, deacons and bishops. If there is sufficient evidence of abuse, the accused will be removed from ministry during the investigation.
The Norms make no requirement for punishment or dismissal of bishops who knew about abuse and avoided bringing the abuser to account, but an additional draft document calls on bishops to "assist each other to interpret correctly and implement" a charter that sets out church intentions to combat sexual abuse of minors.
Unlike the Norms, a detailed point-by-point listing of procedure leaning heavily on canon law, the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People", states plainly the bishops' sorrow. "As bishops, we acknowledge our mistakes and our role in that suffering, and we apologise and take responsibility for too often failing victims and our people in the past," the charter's preamble reads.
One key criticism of the Vatican's revision of the Norms is the seemingly cumbersome process that must be followed for accusations of abuse that are lodged more than 10 years after the alleged victim turns 18. In those cases, bishops must seek a Vatican waiver of this statute of limitations if they see "appropriate pastoral reasons" to do so.
The accused goes through a church court process, but even if acquitted, the bishop still has the right to keep the accused out of active ministry, said Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who spoke at a news conference after the vote. - (Reuters)