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U.S. NEWS Friday 15 February 2019

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Cardinal expects 'significant

progress' at sex abuse summit

By JEFF KAROUB and NI- abusive priests in the state, vote on the grounds that
COLE WINFIELD and the scandal over ex- the proposals were legally
Associated Press Cardinal Theodore McCar- problematic and had only
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. rick, accused of abusing been given to the Vatican
archbishop helping to or- minors and seminarians. for review four days before
ganize next week's summit In December, Cupich ex- the meeting began. The
of the world's bishops at the pressed regret for "our fail- Vatican told the U.S. bish-
Vatican on sexual abuse by ures to address the scourge ops to wait until after next
clergy said Thursday he ex- of clerical sexual abuse" in week's meetings and work In this April 23, 2015 file photo, Chicago Archbishop Blase Cu-
pects to make "significant a statement responding to with the Holy See to devel- pich processes from Holy Name Cathedral following the funeral
progress" in responding to a report by the Illinois attor- op proposals together. Mass of Cardinal Francis George in Chicago.
the scandal that's riven the ney general that said the Cupich then proposed in- Associated Press
church, and that lay Cath- church failed to disclose stead a model using the
olics will help to hold the hi- the names of at least 500 metropolitan bishop — a transformative, not in a first erupted in Ireland and
erarchy accountable. clergy accused of sexually senior bishop responsible group session," he said. Australia and 20 years af-
Chicago Cardinal Blase abusing children. for several dioceses — to Francis has sought to lower ter it hit the U.S., bishops
Cupich told The Associated Zach Hiner, executive di- handle allegations against expectations for the sum- in many parts of Europe,
Press in a phone interview rector of the Survivors Net- bishops under his jurisdic- mit, saying last month that Latin America, Africa and
that the Feb. 21-24 pre- work of those Abused by tion. In the interview, Cu- the "problem of abuse will Asia either deny the prob-
vention summit, convened Priests, or SNAP, said in an pich suggested the "metro- continue" because "it's a lem exists in their regions or
by Pope Francis, is neces- email to the AP that church politan model" had gained human problem." He said downplay it.
sary for all global Catholic officials have repeatedly favor at the Holy See, say- he wanted to sensitize Cupich, considered a
church leaders to under- shown "they are incapable ing he expected the over- church leaders around the moderate who was Fran-
stand they must act and be of accurately determining all framework Francis would globe to the pain of vic- cis' first major U.S. appoint-
accountable to the victims the credibility of accusa- propose would use this tims, instruct them how to ment, said it's inevitable
for the abuse cases stretch- tions, being transparent existing church structure investigate cases and de- that some will see the out-
ing back decades. He with the public, and un- along with lay participation velop general protocols for come of the summit as a
spoke of the urgency while derstanding the pain that to ensure their expertise is the entire hierarchy to use. referendum on Francis that
acknowledging that vic- survivors go through." The included and transparency Francis in September sum- correspondingly places a
tims and their advocates organization previously said in the process. moned the presidents of burden on the cardinal's
consider such a gathering Cupich should be removed "Whatever framework is go- bishops' conferences for shoulders.
long overdue. from his summit-planning ing to be put together for the summit after realizing The letter he signed also
"I think there is understand- role. us ... there has to be in the that church leaders in some included a warning that a
able frustration on that "We remain cautiously opti- involvement of lay experts parts of the world still didn't failure to deal with abuse
level," said Cupich, hand- mistic that there will be real to make sure that there's "get it." In fact, more than now will jeopardize the
picked by Francis to help change as a result of this full visibility by the people 30 years after the scandal church's mission globally.q
organize the summit. "All meeting, but regardless of of God," he said. "And then
I can say now is I believe what Vatican officials do, it has to be done in a col-
we're going to make sig- we are placing our faith in legial manner" using the
nificant progress here. And attorneys general and pros- existing structure of what
we should also realize that ecuting attorneys around the church already has in
we always have to keep the country instead," Hiner place.
learning — we can't get to said. Cupich said victims also
a place that we think we U.S. bishops, who last will be part of the summit,
have this nailed down. If month held a prayer re- both in their presence and
we do that we're going to treat outside Chicago as through video testimony.
get it wrong. a prelude to the summit, But he also was the lead
"This meeting will be a sig- had planned to adopt signatory on a recent let-
nificant moment, I think, to accountability measures ter that urged attendees to
put us on a fresh trajectory at their November meet- meet with victims "to learn
— in a whole new direc- ing that would have cre- firsthand the suffering they
tion," he added. ated a code of conduct have endured."
The summit comes at a for bishops and established "My experience in 20 years
crisis moment for the U.S. an independent lay-led of being a bishop — and
church, following a Penn- commission to investigate I've met with scores of vic-
sylvania grand jury report allegations against them. tims — is that it's those per-
that found hundreds of The Vatican blocked the sonal encounters that are