U.S. bishops debate how to combat sexual abuse
But Vatican delays planned vote till ’19 global meeting.
One day after the Vatican halted its plans to vote on sex abuse accountability measures, U.S. bishops Tuesday began their first open debate since the crisis began this summer about what they can and should do to take more action on oversight of themselves.
The bishops had planned for the core of their annual fall meeting to discuss and then vote on measures such as a code of conduct for themselves and on a lay committee to investigate bishop misconduct. But the first minute of the meeting Monday saw the U.S. Conference of Catholics Bishops’ president, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, tell the huge ballroom of bishops that the Vatican wanted them to hold off on voting until a global meeting could be held next year.
On Tuesday, the bishops proceeded with debate as planned. Some bishops had floated the idea of a nonbinding vote; however, DiNardo said the body would discuss the sexual abuse resolutions but would take no votes — not even nonbinding ones.
The bishops also heard strong words from the chairman of their National Review Board, a lay-led body the bishops set up in 2002 to monitor how well the U.S. church is doing on the abuse issue.
More than 130 bishops, Francesco Cesareo told the conference, “have been accused during their careers of failing to respond to sexual misconduct in their dioceses. Others have been accused of committing abuse. Few have faced real consequences. This must change.”
The exact words used by the Vatican’s Congregation of Bishops in telling the Americans not to vote weren’t known Tuesday, but DiNardo said the halt was aimed at keeping unity in the global church on procedures. Some church-watchers said some in Rome don’t want the U.S. church to appear to be ahead of other parts of the world.
On Tuesday, bishops had the opportunity to fine-tune the proposals for a lay committee to investigate bishops’ misconduct and for a code of conduct for bishops. After the bishops suggest amendments, the group will discuss the same proposals again today. But they won’t vote.
On Tuesday, debate came fast. Baltimore Archbishop William Lori and Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, stood to say a nonbinding vote wasn’t enough. Lori suggested the bishops make some formal indication, if not a formal vote, of their intentions. Paprocki said the bishops could pledge to a code of conduct without disobeying the Vatican.
“I think it would be really a grave loss,” Paprocki said, to loud applause, if the meeting ends without a declaration of the bishops’ collective intent.
DiNardo committed only to summarizing the bishops’ consensus at the end but did not immediately agree to adding any vote.
Later Tuesday, the bishops had an hour and a half set aside to suggest more ideas for preventing sexual abuse. DiNardo announced he will create a task force to work on enacting those ideas.
One bishop suggested an additional agenda item, which was added by overwhelming approval of the bishops: discussing a request to Pope Francis to release documentation relating to ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, whose June suspension on charges of youth sex abuse set off this year’s snowballing crisis.
Bishop Joseph Strickland said his congregants in Tyler, Texas, believe he has failed to live up to the promise he made when he became a bishop to guard the faith.
Some bishops want the abuse crisis to be addressed primarily through a lens of spiritual and sexual sin — primarily homosexuality. Others see the debate as being about universality, or keeping the Catholic Church strongly unified with its power and authority in Rome. Others want more independence for national churches and for lay people.