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November 20, 2018 | The Valley Catholic
IN THE CHURCH
Bishops Hear Frank Presentations, Discussion on Abuse Crisis
BALTIMORE (CNS) – The U.S. bish-
ops overwhelmingly approved a state-
ment against racism November 14 that
declares “racist acts are sinful because
they violate justice.”
“They reveal a failure to acknowl-
edge the human dignity of the per-
sons offended, to recognize them as
the neighbors Christ calls us to love,”
adds the document, “Open Wide Our
Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love – A
Pastoral Letter Against Racism.”
The vote for passage was 241-3 with
one abstention. It required a two-thirds
vote by all bishops, or 183 votes, for
passage.
The action came on the final day of
the U.S. bishops’ annual fall assembly
in Baltimore. Also on the final day’s
agenda was a canonical consultation
on the canonization cause of Sister
Thea Bowman, great-granddaughter of
slaves and the only African-American
member of the Franciscan Sisters of
Perpetual Adoration. She transcended
racism to leave a lasting mark on Catho-
lic life in the United States in the late
20th century.
By a voice vote, the bishops indicat-
ed unanimous support for the advance-
ment of the cause on the diocesan level
-- in Mississippi. The request for the
consultation was presented by Bishop
Joseph R. Kopacz of Jackson, where
Teresa Pitt Green, an abuse survivor,
speaks to bishops in the chapel during a
day of prayer Nov. 12 at the fall general as-
sembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops in Baltimore. (CNS photo/Bob
Roller)
Sister Bowman grew up and also where
she ministered in her last years while
taking care of her aging parents and
subsequently fighting cancer herself.
Other agenda items for the last day
of the meeting included approving a
budget for 2019, and hearing reports on
October’s Synod of Bishops on “Young
People, the Faith, and Vocational Dis-
cernment” and July’s V Encuentro for
Hispanic Catholics in the United States.
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Lou-
isville, Kentucky, also was to deliver
a statement recognizing of the 40th
anniversary of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops’ pastoral statement on
persons with disabilities.
The bishops voted for Bishop Greg-
ory L. Parkes of Saint Petersburg,
Florida, as treasurer-elect of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops. He’ll
take office for a three-year term next
November at the end of the general
assembly, succeeding Cincinnati Arch-
bishop Dennis M. Schnurr.
Votes also were cast for a new chair-
man of the Committee on National
Collections and chairmen-elect for the
committees on Catholic Education;
Clergy, Consecrated Life and Voca-
tions; Divine Worship; Domestic Jus-
tice and Human Development; Laity,
Marriage, Family Life and Youth; and
Migration.
But taking the spotlight for much of
the Nov. 12-14 assembly was the wid-
ening abuse crisis in the U.S. church
and action the U.S. bishops must take
to address it.
Much of the second day was taken
up with frank presentations and dis-
cussions about abuse, and the issue
arose again on the final.
After the Nov. 13 session opened
with prayer, the chair of a group that
has advised the U.S. bishops for 50
years on multiple issues chose to speak
to them on just one: the clergy sexual
abuse crisis and ways to move forward
from it.
“We are facing painful times as a
church,” said Father David Whitestone,
chair of the bishops’ National Advisory
Council. “The depth of anger, pain and
disappointment expressed by mem-
bers of the NAC cannot begin to be
expressed adequately in words.”
He noted that progress has been
made since the bishops developed the
2002 “Charter for the Protection of
Children and Young People,” but he
stressed that more needs to be done.
“We can never become complacent.
We must recommit to the ongoing care
of all victims in their healing,” Father
Whitestone said.
In his report on the work of the Na-
tional Review Board, chairman Fran-
cesco Cesareo called for broadening the
scope of the charter to include bishops.
He also urged publishing complete
lists of credibly accused clergy in all
dioceses; improving the audit process;
and enhancing accountability for bish-
ops regarding cases of abuse.
He urged the bishops to take ac-
tion and continue to move solutions
to abuse forward. “Don’t stagnate it,
or slow it down,” said Cesareo during
a question-and-answer period follow-
ing his report. He said if action against
abuse does not move forward, “I fear
for the future of our church.”
Protesters Gather Outside U.S. Bishops’ Meeting, Call For Change
BALTIMORE (CNS) – As the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops opened
a Day of Prayer at the Fall Bishops Gen-
eral Assembly Nov. 12, John McKeon
was the first to walk a path along Al-
iceanna Street outside the Baltimore
Marriott Waterfront, just after 9 a.m.
Along with his wife, Karen Greklek,
he made the journey from New York to
show his concern with a simple poster
board sign and matching pins that read
“REPENT RESIGN.”
“I don’t think the church would
miss a beat if they all resigned,”
McKeon said, calling for a collective
resignation similar to that of the bish-
ops of Chile. “There are many ways to
serve the Lord -- they don’t have to be
a bishop.”
Even if Pope Francis does not accept
the resignations of every bishop, he
said, the gesture would show remorse.
“I’m here because of my faith,” said
McKeon, a parishioner of St. Mary-
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in
Mount Vernon, New York. “I want the
Catholic Church to be what it should
be, not what it is.”
Leaders from BishopAccountability.
org organized a morning news confer-
ence, where they and victim-survivors
of abuse denounced the Vatican’s
request for the U.S. bishops to delay
any vote on two proposals they were
to discuss at the assembly regarding
their response to the clergy sex abuse
scandals.
The Vatican -- via the Congregation
for Bishops -- asked the U.S. bishops to
delay any vote until after a February
meeting with the pope and presidents
of the bishops’ conferences around the
world that will focus on addressing
clergy abuse. The bishops were in-
formed of the request just as the general
meeting was being called to order.
Action “absolutely cannot wait,”
said Peter Isely, a spokesperson for
Ending Clergy Abuse and founding
member of the Survivors Network
of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP,
who was the first to speak at the news
conference. “There’s no reason to wait.
… It’s well overdue; it’s time to stand
up and do something.”
Isely, a victim-survivor of abuse in
Terence McKiernan and Anne Barrett Doyle,
co-directors of BishopsAccoutability.org,
join protesters in Baltimore Nov. 12 outside
the hotel where the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops met for its fall general
assembly. (CNS photo/Rick Musacchio,
Tennessee Register)
Wisconsin, said the bishops “need to
deliver” at their Nov. 12-14 fall general
assembly.
“They cannot walk out of this con-
ference without delivering anything,”
he said.
Isely still considers himself Catholic
because he believes there is a possibil-
ity that there will be change.
“I don’t know what a post-abuse
church will look like, but that’s one I
want to be a part of,” he said. “I still do
believe out of … the voice of that suf-
fering (by abuse victims and survivors)
will come the real spiritual reform of
this church.”
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of
BishopAccountability.org, and Ter-
ence McKiernan, the organization’s
president, pointed to Bishop Steven R.
Biegler of Cheyenne, Wyoming, as a
good example of an accountable bishop.
Bishop Biegler strongly supports an
ongoing investigation into abuse al-
legations against retired Cheyenne
Bishop Joseph H. Hart, now 87; some
claims date to when the retired prelate
headed the diocese (1978-2001).
McKiernan told the Catholic Re-
view, the news outlet of the Baltimore
Archdiocese, that releasing the names
of accused and continuously updating
those lists are steps in the right direc-
tion of attaining accountability. The
Archdiocese of Baltimore was one of
the first in the country to publish such
a list in 2002, with updates to the list
in the years since.