Page 6 - AT

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 12 noveMber 2018

Sex abuse crisis tops agenda as U.S. Catholic bishops convene

By DAVID CRARY In Baltimore, the bishops will from parish to parish, and in
AP National Writer consider several proposals some cases from diocese
As U.S. Catholic bishops approved by a committee to diocese, without notify-
gather for their national in September. They include ing civil authorities of the
assembly next week, the developing a code of con- suspected abuse,” the task
clergy sex abuse crisis duct for bishops regarding force said. “American bish-
dominates their agenda sexual abuse and harass- ops should never have the
amid calls from critics that ment, and establishing a option of looking the other
church leaders finally bring confidential hotline — to be way and remaining silent
about meaningful reforms run by a third party — to re- again.”
to root out misbehaving ceive allegations of sexual Most states include clergy
priests. misconduct by bishops and among mandatory report-
The three-day assembly relay them to appropriate ers, but some do not.
that starts Monday in Balti- church and civil authorities. The abuse crisis overlaps
more comes after a series The committee also en- with increasing tensions in
of abuse scandals this year dorsed a “full investigation” the U.S. Catholic church
that have been stunning in In this Wednesday Oct. 24, 2018 file photo, a demonstrator holds into the McCarrick case over its approach to LGBT
their magnitude and num- up protest signs at the Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. that would give a role to people. Some conservative
ber. Associated Press lay law enforcement ex- activists have blamed the
Bishops have several re- cline. Theodore McCarrick as a perts. sex abuse on the presence
forms under consider- Setting the tone for the cardinal after church inves- Critics have urged the bish- of gay men in the priest-
ation to craft a stronger national assembly, the tigators said an allegation ops to go further by allow- hood, even though church-
response to the scandals, president of the bishops’ that he groped a teenage ing outside investigators commissioned studies have
but some Catholic activ- conference, Cardinal Dan- altar boy in the 1970s was full access to church sex- disputed that claim. There’s
ists are demanding further iel DiNardo of Galveston- credible. Subsequently, abuse records and by sup- also been a conservative
steps, including releasing Houston, asked his fellow several former seminarians porting changes to statute- backlash to efforts by some
the names of all clergy ac- bishops to spend the pre- and priests reported that of-limitation laws so that liberal Catholic leaders to
cused of abuse and giving ceding seven days in “in- they had been abused more cases of long-ago sex promote a more welcom-
a greater voice to abuse tensified” prayer, fasting or harassed by McCarrick abuse could be addressed ing attitude toward gays.
victims. One coalition of and reparation. as adults, triggering de- in court. The priest at a church in
concerned Catholics, the The bishops will consider bate over who might have Another recommendation Chicago burned a rainbow
5 Theses movement, plans new steps to police their known and covered up his came from a sex abuse banner, angering the lo-
to post its proposals for re- own ranks during abuse misconduct. task force at Villanova Uni- cal LGBT community, and
form on church doors in cases, and will likely ap- In August, a grand jury re- versity in Philadelphia, one was subsequently removed
Baltimore and elsewhere prove an investigation by port in Pennsylvania de- of the country’s top Catho- from his post by Chicago’s
on Sunday. lay law enforcement ex- tailed decades of abuse lic schools. It said the bish- archbishop. A gay employ-
The abuse crisis is foremost perts of the handling of the and cover-up in six dioces- ops’ conference should ee at a Catholic church in
among several challenges scandal surrounding the es, alleging that more than require all bishops to be- San Diego resigned after
confronting Catholic lead- former cardinal in Washing- 1,000 children had been come mandatory reporters being subjected to sus-
ers, who face conflicting ton, D.C. abused over the years by of suspected sexual abuse tained harassment and
pressures on the role of “Bishops are under intense about 300 priests. Since — in the same category vandalism. And conserva-
women and LGBT people scrutiny and pressure to then, a federal prosecutor as school teachers, social tives have forced the can-
in the church. And even deliver on both of these in Philadelphia has begun workers and others who cellation of several sched-
though the Catholic popu- items,” said the Rev. Thom- working on a federal crimi- work with children. uled speeches by the Rev.
lation in the U.S. has been as Berg, admissions director nal case centered on child The step has been avoided James Martin, a prominent
growing, most Catholics at- at St. Joseph’s Seminary in exploitation, and attorneys thus far despite “the nefari- Jesuit priest whose book
tend Mass rarely, and the Yonkers, New York. general in several other ous actions of certain bish- urges more vigorous Cath-
number of active priests In July, Pope Francis re- states have launched in- ops surreptitiously transfer- olic outreach to the LGBT
and nuns continues to de- moved U.S. church leader vestigations. ring sexually abusive priests community.q