tvc.dsj.org | November 20, 2018
IN THE CHURCH
13
Bishops Offer Perspectives on Next Steps Forward in Addressing Abuse
By Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service
BALTIMORE -- Although unable to
vote on specifi c proposals on episcopal
accountability standards and other
protocols to address the current clerical
sex abuse crisis facing U.S. Catholicism,
two bishops suggested items on which
a consensus could be built among the
nation’s bishops.
“We were reminded of the nagging
reality of the McCarrick situation and
how that weighs heavily right across the
country,” said Bishop Robert P. Deeley
of Portland, Maine, chairman of the
bishops’ Committee on Canonical Af-
fairs and Church Governance during a
Nov. 13 news conference following that
day’s session of the bishops’ Nov. 12-14
fall general meeting in Baltimore.
“I thought that was an important
takeaway,” he said.
News reports fi rst surfaced in June
detailing allegations from decades
before against retired Archbishop
Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington
when he served as a priest and bishop in
New York and New Jersey. After further
allegations continued to emerge over
the summer, Archbishop McCarrick
resigned from the College of Cardi-
nals, and has moved to a monastery in
Kansas.
“It was interesting to see how the
‘metropolitan in the region’ started to
evolve in the discussion,” said Bishop
Deeley, who characterized the discus-
sion as “kind of freewheeling.”
Some bishops began advocating on
the fl oor of the meeting Nov. 13 for a
greater role for archbishops, who serve
as metropolitans for the regions in
which they serve. The archbishop of
Cincinnati, for example, serves as the
metropolitan for all Ohio Latin-rite
dioceses. The archbishop of Boston
serves as metropolitan for the six states
of New England.
Archbishops were being recom-
mended as a possible avenue for being
told of allegations against bishops and a
starting point for determining the credi-
bility of such allegations; the archbishop
also could persuade a bishop to step
aside at least temporarily from his dio-
cese as an investigation got underway.
Auxiliary Bishop Andrew H. Coz-
zens of St. Paul and Minneapolis said
he sensed a “fi rmer resolve” among the
bishops around a whole range of issues,
signaling a “culture change.”
Those issues, Bishop Cozzens added,
Bishop Robert P. Deeley of Portland, Maine,
and Auxiliary Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of
St. Paul and Minneapolis attend a news con-
ference Nov. 13 at the fall general assembly
of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
in Baltimore. (CNS photo/Rick Musacchio,
Tennessee Register)
include the involvement of the laity in
a process of investigating allegations.
“We’ve seen lots of comments and
questions about transparency, questions
about lists, questions about laity and
review boards,” he said. “The principles
around how our proposals were built
were not questions, just how they are
put in practice.”
Bishop Cozzens added, “It was ex-
pressed by several bishops today that
there was a desire to work with the
Holy Father, but to let the Holy Father
know what are our needs ... and what
we’re hearing from our people, the
laity, what we’re hearing form the Na-
tional Advisory Board. Certainly, that’s
something the Holy Father’s going to
want to listen to.”
He termed it as “one of the clearly
felt needs of the body (of bishops)
because of the desire we all have to
exercise that accountability whatever
way we can fraternally.”
Responding to the notion that the
bishops cannot police themselves,
Bishop Deeley said about such respon-
sibility, “I do not acknowledge turning
it over” to civil authorities, because in
doing so, “we evade the responsibility
ourselves.”
Bishop Deeley recalled how the
Portland Diocese dealt with sex abuse
allegations against priest when his pre-
decessor, Bishop Joseph J. Gerry, headed
the diocese. He “needed the help of the
attorney general of Maine,” who in turn
collaborated with each of the district at-
torneys in the state’s 16 counties.
“Consultors went through all the
cases. The ones who had accusations
or allegations of any kind were studied
by the attorney general,” Bishop Deeley
said. “It was a cooperative, collaborative
process. That’s a fi ne way to do it, if
that’s possible.”
Standards of Bishops’ Accountability Unveiled at USCCB Meeting
BALTIMORE (CNS) – A series of
standards of episcopal accountability
for bishops was formally unveiled
Nov. 13 at the fall general meeting of
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bish-
ops in Baltimore. The standards will
not be voted on during the bishops’
meeting. A Vatican intervention an-
nounced Nov. 12 asked the bishops to
delay approval of any elements of their
proposals to strengthen the USCCB’s
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policies on clergy sex abuse until they
can be reviewed for their conformity to
canon law and until after the February
meeting at the Vatican for presidents
of bishops’ conferences worldwide.
When the standards do come up for
a vote, they would require a yes vote
from two-thirds of the USCCB mem-
bership. “In our dioceses there already
exist codes of conduct,” said Cardinal
Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jer-
sey, chairman of the USCCB Commit-
tee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and
Vocations. “In light of that, the focus
became on how to build additional
policy and best practices to hold our-
selves accountable.” There are seven
standards, which deal with: diocesan
and eparchial codes of conduct; pro-
tection of children and young people;
sexual misconduct with an adult by a
bishop; sexual harassment of an adult
by a bishop; responding to allegations
of sexual abuse of minors, or of sexual
misconduct with or harassment of
adults by priests or deacons; report-
ing and resolving complaints against
bishops; and further commitments
to ensure integrity. There also is an
acknowledgment for each bishop to
sign, according to a copy of the pro-
posed standards obtained by Catholic
News Service.