WASHINGTON — Greeted by a chorus of protesters charging that the Catholic church is turning its back on thousands of children sexually abused by priests, Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida and many of his colleagues tried to assure Catholics that they will not relax their efforts to root out all abusive clergy.
“The safety of our children is paramount, and I will not in any way risk their safety or their health,” Maida said as he arrived Sunday for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Last month, the Vatican rejected the American bishops’ zero-tolerance policy to combat the abuse of minors and pushed the bishops to add due-process protections for
accused priests.
The bishops’ original policy, approved in June in Dallas, required bishops to report all accusations of the abuse of minors to law-enforcement officials. Under the revision, bishops will have more discretion about reporting abuse.
Bishops agreed to set up abuse-case review boards dominated by lay people to advise bishops. The revisions could give such boards less authority.
Finally, the bishops’ strict promise in June to remove any priest who ever had abused a minor now becomes more difficult to enforce as the new rules focus more firmly on church-run investigations and church trials.

— David Crumm, Knight

Ridder Newspapers, (KRT)