MIAMI — U.S. Roman Catholic bishops Wednesday overwhelmingly approved revisions to their clergy sexual abuse policy that would allow bishops to conduct preliminary investigations in private and set up church tribunals to judge accused priests.
In voting 246-7 for the policy, with six bishops abstaining, the bishops said the measures would still keep accused molesters away from children in the church. A priest found guilty of a single offense — even from years ago — still would be relieved of ministerial duties.
“The new norms make very clear that sexual abuse and molestation by priests will not be tolerated by the Roman Catholic Church,” Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien said.
Victims’ advocacy groups remained unconvinced. They noted the new charter calls for keeping preliminary investigations of accused priests confidential, limits lay review boards to an advisory role, and requires accusers to file complaints by age 28.
“It is a real setback for the church as a whole,” said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “It is going to deepen the divide between the bishops and their flock.”
Especially troubling is the confidential preliminary investigations, Clohessy said. “The secrecy is what got us into this mess.”
The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, editor of the national Jesuit magazine America, was particularly critical of keeping the review boards’ work confidential. “If you are trying to restore credibility, you have to be open and transparent.”
Still, Reese said, the revisions do “have a clearer procedure for determining who is innocent and who is guilty.”
When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met in Dallas in June, the group adopted a policy that said a priest accused of sexual misconduct would be barred from any work connected to the church.
The Vatican balked, saying accused priests deserved due process protection. Under the new charter, the bishops would decide whether to remove a priest while the preliminary investigation is conducted. If the bishop deems the allegation credible, the accused priest would be put on leave, then go before a clerical tribunal.
The Vatican must approve the new policy before it can become church law for the more than 190 Catholic dioceses across the nation. Rome will likely approve it, as the revisions resulted from a committee of four U.S. bishops and four Vatican officials.
“We are now much further along to a final conclusion to this terribly painful scandal,” Chicago Cardinal Francis George said.