Catholic bishop seeks unity following sex-abuse discord

 
<A href="Catholic bishop seeks unity following sex-abuse discord“>Minneapolis-St Paul Star Tribune
Kevin Diaz
Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
Published Nov. 12, 2002 CATH12
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The head of the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops called for unity and reconciliation Monday to heal the “fracture and discord” that have plagued the church during a yearlong nationwide sex abuse scandal.
Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, made his plea as the bishops gathered to consider changes requested by the Vatican in their “zero-tolerance” sexual abuse policy.
Some victims’ groups and prominent Catholic lay members fear the revisions could lead to a retreat from the principle laid down by the bishops last June in Dallas that no known abusers would remain in public ministry

posted by Ann Brentwood on 11/11/2002 11:34:09 PM
CHICAGO
Catholic Activists Compile Data
Chicago Tribune
By RICHARD N. OSTLING
AP Religion Writer
Published November 11, 2002, 4:55 PM CST
WASHINGTON — Roman Catholic activists have compiled an Internet database listing at least 600 U.S. priests who have faced public accusations of child sex abuse since 1996.
The list, assembled by 10 Boston-area Catholics operating as a group called Survivors First, is drawn from U.S. newspaper articles and, in some cases, court documents. The group planned to release the material on Tuesday.
Paul Baier, a software entrepreneur who led the project, said the effort has been “incredibly cautious” about choosing the priests it would name. Baier’s group has allegations from victims against 2,100 clerics in its files, but is only naming those identified in public reports, he said.
posted by Ann Brentwood on 11/11/2002 10:52:03 PM


VIRGINIA
Facts of priest sex abuse at odds with perception As U.S. bishops meet today to finalize their abuse policy, an analysis by USA TODAY brings crisis into sharper focus
USA TODAY
By Cathy Lynn Grossman and Anthony DeBarros
USA TODAY
When the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops meet today to decide how to deal with priests accused of sexually abusing children and teens, they’ll start with a handicap. Nearly a year into the scandal, the bishops have yet to compile a detailed accounting of the problem they face. They have collected no national data on how many priests have been accused, how many are serial offenders, how many are still in the church, or even how many are dead.
But a USA TODAY analysis of all known cases from the nation’s 10 largest dioceses — the most detailed national study to date — paints a picture that is in some ways at odds with public perceptions of the abuse scandal:

posted by Ann Brentwood on 11/11/2002 10:43:57 PM

Catholic Bishops See ‘Fractures’ Over Sex Scandal
New York Times
By REUTERS
Filed at 4:36 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A sexual abuse scandal has caused “serious fractures” in the U.S. Roman Catholic church, the head of the national bishops’ conference said Monday, as abuse survivors accused the Vatican of watering down a policy meant to deal with pedophile priests.
At issue is a document hammered out by American bishops to combat priestly sexual abuse and a revision returned by the Vatican that critics say offers too much protection to clergymen and not enough to abuse victims.

posted by Ann Brentwood on 11/11/2002 10:03:23 PM


BALTIMORE (MD)
After abuse crisis, bishop urges healing
Final approval of church’s policy on sex abuse expected this week; Vatican sought revisions; Victims’ advocates voice doubts over new version.
Baltimore Sun
By Rachel Zoll
The Associated Press
Originally published November 11, 2002, 6:21 PM EST
WASHINGTON — The head of the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops pleaded for unity within the church today as he and his fellow prelates prepared to adopt a sex abuse policy that they promised will get offending clergy out of public ministry.
Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, opened a gathering of the American hierarchy with a speech focusing on the church’s future following a year of scandal. Fellow prelates stressed that the new policy — a reworked version of a plan they first approved in June — still bars guilty priests from all church work, including saying Mass publicly.
“We will eradicate this plague, this horror from our midst,” said Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Ill., who helped draft the plan

posted by Ann Brentwood on 11/11/2002 08:47:39 PM

IRELAND
Priests address sex crimes from pulpit
Donegal News
A Letterkenny priest was applauded by the congregation last Sunday after addressing the issue of clerical child sex abuse that has rocked the diocese of Raphoe. His remarks came in the same week that the former Bishop of Raphoe, said the abuse of children by priests was a cause of the gravest concern and remorse.
Dr Hegarty was addressing child abuse for the first time since the broadcast of a recent television documentary on how his former Raphoe diocese handled the case of jailed paedophile priest Fr Eugene Greene. He said the safety of children was his top priority in the current debate about child abuse in the Church. He was speaking at a meeting of school principals and board governors chairs in Derry on Wednesday, the Bishop of Derry said people had been shocked, shamed and repelled by the abuse of children.
‘This is a cause of the gravest regret and remorse for all of us as we try to come to terms with the breach of trust which children especially placed in priests,’ Bishop Hegarty said.



posted by Kathy Shaw on 11/11/2002 03:50:06 PM

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posted by Bill Mitchell on 11/11/2002 03:49:52 PM

IRELAND
Bishop should suspend priests under investigation – victim
Derry Journal
The Bishop of Raphoe has been challenged to immediately suspend those priests currently under investigation following allegations of child sex abuse.
This call has come from one of the victims of convicted paedophile priest, Fr Eugene Greene. Paul Breslin, whose harrowing encounters with Fr Greene were recalled on the BBC ‘Spotlight’ programme last Tuesday night said all children could be saved from abuse by his action.



posted by Kathy Shaw on 11/11/2002 03:48:16 PM
IRELAND
Bishop speaks out on Church sex abuse
Derry Journal
by Linda McGrory
“Shocking, shameful, repellent” – Dr. Hegarty
THE FORMER Bishop of Raphoe Most Rev. Dr. Seamus Hegarty has said the safety of children in the Derry Diocese is his number one priority.
Bishop Hegarty said everyone had good reason to be “shocked, shamed and repelled” by child sex abuse which had been perpetrated in schools and churches by priests.
But he defended the Derry Diocese’s handling of the crisis saying it had “reached out” to victims through the ‘Hope Alive’ ministry which offers counselling and support to people who suffered sexual abuse as children and young adults.
Addressing a meeting of school principals and chairpersons of boards of governors at St. Joseph’s Secondary School in Derry on Tuesday night, Bishop Hegarty said: “The current debate on child sexual abuse is, and must remain, an issue that engages the attention of all who are interested in education. The paramount principle, i.e. that the safety of children be the priority, is imperative. It is certainly my priority.





posted by Kathy Shaw on 11/11/2002 03:46:29 PM

WASHINGTON (DC)
Bishops’ president warns against using scandals to undermine Catholic teaching
Boston.com
By Rachel Zoll, Associated PressWASHINGTON — The president of America’s Roman Catholic bishops insisted Monday that church leaders are committed to protecting minors even though they are revising their discipline policy for sexually abusive priests over victims’ objections.
“We will not step back from our compassion for those who have been harmed, or from our determination to put into place policies that will protect children,” Bishop Wilton Gregory, leader of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in his opening address to the group.
The bishops are meeting for four days, and are expected later in the week to approve the latest version of their rules for handling molestation claims against priests.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 11/11/2002 01:57:34 PM

ST. LOUIS
Victim advocates appeal to the nation’s bishops
St. Louis Post Dispatch
BY PATRICIA RICE
Post-Dispatch Religion Writer
11/10/2002 09:00 PM
David Clohessy, of St. Louis, Mo., director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, holds up a photo of Eric Patterson, of Conway Springs, Kansas during a news conference in Washington Sunday, November 10, 2002. Patterson committed suicide after allegedly being abused by a priest.
(Joe Marquette/AP)
WASHINGTON – As the bishops of the nation’s 194 Roman Catholic dioceses arrived in Washington Sunday afternoon for their fall meeting, they were met by about three dozen men and women who say they are victims of sexual abuse by priests.
They held signs and displayed colorful hula hoops – a symbol, they say, of all the hoops victims must jump through to bring abusive priests to justice. Many of them hope to meet with bishops during the four-day meeting.



posted by Ann Brentwood on 11/11/2002 12:04:21 PM


BALTIMORE (MD)
Bishops to revisit policy on sex abuse
Victims’ advocates fear proposed revisions will largely weaken plan; Meeting set today in Washington
Baltimore Sun
By John Rivera
Sun Staff
Originally published November 11, 2002
Five months after approving what many hailed as a groundbreaking policy on sexual abuse by clergy, U.S. Catholic bishops are gathering today in Washington to consider revisions that some call mere fine-tuning – but that critics say will water the policy down.
The revisions were crafted by a joint commission of Vatican officials and U.S. bishops after the zero-tolerance policy failed last month to win final approval from Rome.
Unlike at the June meeting in Dallas, where the bishops deliberated for four agonizing days under unprecedented news media scrutiny, the revised policy is merely one item on a full agenda and will receive considerably less attention. Many observers believe that if the sexual abuse policy is passed in its present form when it comes up for debate and vote Wednesday, it will easily win Vatican approval.
“The people I’ve talked with feel very positive about it. I feel very positive about it,” said Baltimore’s Cardinal William H. Keeler. “So I don’t anticipate a great deal of heat about it. I think we have a lot of light now, and we’re going to move in that direction. I don’t anticipate a great deal of debate.”
posted by Ann Brentwood on 11/11/2002 11:42:13 AM

NASHVILLE (TN)
Bishop: Church Will Protect Minors
Nashville Tennessean
By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer
McCarrick says the Vatican revisions are meant to protect priests from unproven allegations. (Audio)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The president of America’s Roman Catholic bishops insisted Monday that church leaders are committed to protecting minors even though they are revising their discipline policy for sexually abusive priests over victims’ objections.
“We will not step back from our compassion for those who have been harmed, or from our determination to put into place policies that will protect children,” Bishop Wilton Gregory, leader of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in his opening address to the group.


posted by Ann Brentwood on 11/11/2002 11:07:10 AM
PHOENIX
Diocese downplays abuse scope
Cases show pattern of suppression by bishop
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 10, 2002
Bishop Thomas O’Brien and a core of close advisers downplayed the scope of sexual abuse among priests in the Phoenix Diocese for years by suppressing information and pressuring victims to remain silent, an investigation by The Arizona Republic has found.
Those tactics, intended to protect the church’s reputation and finances, were typical nationwide. But in June, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a resolution calling for openness.
O’Brien embraced the resolution and vowed to “lead the nation” in ridding his diocese of sexually abusive priests. He took a step toward that Saturday with his most-detailed accounting yet of 30 years of sex allegations.

Catholics still supportive of church
Religion more than priests, faithful say
The Arizona Republic
Peter Ortiz
The Arizona Republic
The latest news involving scandal and the Catholic Church disturbed Raul Sandoval as he worshiped Sunday morning in Tempe.
Father Nathan Castle of All Saints Catholic Newman Center ended the 10:30 Mass by reading a letter from Bishop Thomas O’Brien, which told parishioners of about 50 priests, former priests and church employees accused of criminal sexual misconduct with minors in the Phoenix Diocese over three decades.
The letter also stated that the diocese has paid nearly $2 million to settle 12 to 15 lawsuits since O’Brien became bishop in 1982.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 11/11/2002 09:56:25 AM
Q&A with Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 10, 2002
The Arizona Republic submitted a series of questions to Thomas J. O’Brien, bishop of the Phoenix Diocese. Here are the questions and the answers O’Brien provided Saturday:
Question: Will Bishop O’Brien follow the lead of Cardinal Keeler and release a comprehensive list of priests, brothers and church employees accused in the Phoenix Diocese?
Answer: The Diocese and I have gone to great lengths to cooperate with every request of the Grand Jury for information. We have produced 16,000 pages of documents. As of today, all documents which are responsive to the subpoena are now in the hands of the Grand Jury of the judge supervising that Grand Jury. Protection of children, parishioners, and priests who are faithful to their vows is one of my highest priorities.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 11/11/2002 09:51:51 AM
Bishop cites 50 sex claims
Broadest account yet of abuse cases
The Arizona Republic
Joseph A. Reaves
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 10, 2002
Bishop Thomas O’Brien on Saturday acknowledged for the first time publicly that about 50 priests, former priests and church employees have been accused of criminal sexual misconduct with minors in the Phoenix Diocese during the past 30 years.
O’Brien also said the diocese has paid close to $2 million to settle “12 to 15” lawsuits involving sexual abuse or sexual harassment since he became bishop in 1982.
The twin revelations, by far the most-detailed accounting of the lingering sex-abuse scandal in the diocese, came in response to questions The Arizona Republic submitted to the bishop 17 days ago.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 11/11/2002 09:50:08 AM
Editorial: The Bishops and the Law
The Washington Post
Sunday, November 10, 2002
THE U.S. BISHOPS meeting that begins in Washington tomorrow will thrash out the details of a compromise between a delegation of U.S. bishops and the Vatican on the Roman Catholic Church’s policy regarding sexual abuse of children by priests. Early indications are that the Rome meeting softened some of the tough rules adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops four months ago in Dallas.
If there has been a significant retreat from the zero-tolerance policy overwhelmingly approved in Dallas, the strain in the bond of trust between Catholic clergy and laity may continue, to the church’s detriment. There is one area, however, in which there can be no backtracking, at least where the church and the larger society are concerned: Preying upon children is more than a sin, and is a legitimate concern of the Vatican and U.S. Catholic hierarchy; it is a crime in America for which there is no religious shield and in which civil authority must have primacy.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 11/11/2002 09:45:00 AM

DALLAS
Priest serves despite allegation
Leader of Dallas cathedral accused of groping man in ’91
The Dallas Morning News
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
One of the Dallas Catholic Diocese’s most prominent priests has remained on duty for several months despite an accusation that he grabbed the genitals of a worshipper who had asked him for help, correspondence and interviews show.
The case raises questions about whether the diocese is following its sexual misconduct policies, which were toughened in the wake of clergy abuse scandals that cost more than $30 million in legal settlements. It has also exposed deep divisions between Bishop Charles Grahmann and the man named as his apparent successor nearly three years ago.

Policy doesn’t deal with priests who abuse adults
The Dallas Morning News
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
The Diocese of Amarillo has kept a priest on duty after paying to settle a claim that he seduced a woman during a prayer session and pressured her to have an abortion when she thought she was pregnant.

Catholic officials in Dallas, meanwhile, in recent months have handled two similar matters in different ways: They suspended a priest who was accused of raping a nun, but took no action against another priest accused of grabbing a man’s genitals during a blessing.



posted by Bill Mitchell on 11/11/2002 09:04:06 AM

WASHINGTON (DC)
Walking a Fine Line Amid pressures, bishops convene to revamp zero-tolerance policy
Newsday
By Carol Eisenberg
Staff Correspondent
November 11, 2002
Washington — here are fewer protesters, fewer television cameras and far fewer security guards and police than there were in Dallas five months ago. But the nation’s 300 bishops, who gather today at the Hyatt Regency, still face a formidable task as they try to end, once and for all, a year of unrelenting headlines about predatory priests and the prelates who protected them.
Members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will walk a narrow tightrope this week as they attempt to revise their so-called zero tolerance policy to satisfy Vatican demands for protection of the rights of accused priests, at the same time that they seek to mollify victims and angry American Catholics, who are demanding still-greater transparency and accountability.
But some predict that it may be impossible to satisfy both constituencies.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 11/11/2002 08:44:11 AM

WASHINGTON (DC)
Victims, activists criticize policy on abusive priests
Houston Chronicle
By RICHARD VARA and CYNTHIA LEE
WASHINGTON — On the eve of U.S. Catholic bishops’ second national meeting in five months to establish a policy on sexually abusive priests, victims and an activist lay group Sunday attacked proposed changes to the document.
But the archbishop of Washington, D.C., said the revisions made by a committee of U.S. and Vatican bishops last month did not weaken the charter nor provide loopholes for abusive priests to remain in the ministry.
“The practical result is — God forbid — if a priest has ever hurt a child or ever would in the future, that person would not function as a priest in the United States,” Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said.



posted by Kathy Shaw on 11/11/2002 08:40:32 AM

WASHINGTON (DC)
Bishops to Adopt Discipline Policy
Washington Times
By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops headed into a four-day meeting Monday to adopt a new discipline policy for sexually abusive priests that the prelates hope will end a year of scandal.
Victim advocates and lay reformers, meanwhile, assembled in a hotel across from the gathering to signal their anger with the revisions, which they say could keep molesters in parishes.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a disciplinary plan when it last met five months ago in Texas. The policy before the group now is a revision negotiated with the Vatican that protects priests’ rights and underscores that bishops, not lay people, have the authority to oversee clergy.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 11/11/2002 08:37:10 AM
WASHINGTON (DC)
Bishops to begin review of sex-abuse policy
Boston Herald
by Robin Washington
Monday, November 11, 2002
WASHINGTON – The nation’s Catholic bishops will open discussion today on a controversial revision of a policy on clergy sex abuse that victims and lay groups call a backtrack of the plan approved by the prelates in June.
“This was supposed to be a binding national policy. That was the whole point. That is gone,” Peter Isley of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said yesterday on the eve of the bishops’ meeting.
Arriving in the capitol yesterday, about 300 members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops were greeted by scores of lay activists and victim advocates, many of whom set up camp in a hotel directly opposite the meeting site.



posted by Kathy Shaw on 11/11/2002 08:31:44 AM IRELAND
Clerical abuse roils Ireland’s church
Allegations against priests, cardinal mirror Boston case
Boston Globe
By Charles M. Sennott, Globe Staff
BALLYFERMOT, Ireland – Shuffling out from a thinly attended Mass at Our Lady of the Assumption in this working-class suburb of Dublin, the aging parishioners shared their growing sense of bitterness and betrayal over the Catholic hierarchy’s handling of priestly sexual abuse in Ireland.
The scandal has cut across Ireland, but it left a particularly deep wound at this parish.
Here, the Rev. Tony Walsh raped young boys in the 1970s and 1980s. Cardinal Desmond Connell of Dublin eventually stripped Walsh of his clerical title but did not notify police until years later – an omission that victims and their advocates believe allowed the priest to seek more victims.
Asked about calls for Connell to resign, Michael Lee, a 48-year-old electrician, said: ”Resign nothing! The cardinal should be jailed for what he did.”


posted by Kathy Shaw on 11/11/2002 08:28:37 AM WASHINGTON (DC)
Church policy protested
Aggressive action demanded on eve of bishops’ summit
Boston Globe
By Rachel Zoll, Associated Press
WASHINGTON – The day before America’s Roman Catholic bishops meet to finalize their policy on sexually abusive priests, victims’ advocates and lay reformers gathered to pressure church leaders one last time before the debate begins.
About 40 advocates – some weeping, others holding pictures of victims – stood across the street yesterday from the hotel where the bishops will assemble, demanding that the prelates take a more aggressive approach to ridding the priesthood of sexual predators.
”We are undaunted,” said Mark Serrano, a national board member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. ”We will work every day and every night this week to speak to individual bishops.”


posted by Kathy Shaw on 11/11/2002 08:21:25 AM

Church scandal may cloud bishop’s fight for migrants
Miami Herald
BY DONNA GEHRKE-WHITE
dgehrke@herald.com
WASHINGTON – Miami Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Wenski is poised to ask his fellow bishops this week in Washington to join with their Mexican counterparts in pleading with President Bush to legalize millions of undocumented workers.
He just hopes he’ll have an audience.
The clergy sexual abuse scandal threatens once again to dominate the agenda of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which meets today through Thursday in Washington.
Last week an outcry arose when a committee of eight U.S. Catholic bishops and Vatican officials proposed to tone down the bishops’ zero-tolerance reforms, adopted in June. The scandal ”has hurt us,” acknowledges Wenski, who is, nevertheless, trying to concentrate on his role as chairman of the Committee on Migration and his upcoming speech.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 11/11/2002 08:02:08 AM