U.S. Catholic Church creates new process for reporting misconduct

Minors or adults can now confidentially report abuse or harassment by a bishop through a thirdparty phone and online complaint line not run by the church, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced Wednesday.

The announcement came one week after leaders of the U.S. church met with Pope Francis on the matter, and soon after a cardinal and a bishop left their roles following allegations of sexual harassment.

Francis had met with three bishops last week at the Vatican to discuss the sexual abuse crisis that the leading U.S. bishop said has “lacerated” the church. Bishops are the leaders of the church across America.

The confidential thirdparty reporting system will direct complaints of sexual abuse of minors or sexual misconduct with adults by a bishop to “the appropriate ecclesiastical authority and, as required by applicable law, to civil authorities,” the announcement said.

The U.S. Catholic bishops’ statement called for a “full investigation” of retired Washington Archbishop Theodore McCarrick and said the inquiry should use lay experts in fields such as law enforcement and social services. But the statement, in a notable shift, did not mention the Vatican’s role in such a probe.

A month earlier, Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, had suggested that the Vatican should help lead the investigation in what is known as an apostolic visitation. Neither the pope nor DiNardo has mentioned the visitation since their meeting last week.

This summer, McCarrick became the first U.S. cardinal to give up his red cardinal’s hat due to allegations of sexual misconduct. Two men say McCarrick molested them when they were minors, and others say he behaved in sexually inappropriate ways when they were young adult seminarians and priests.

Last week, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of West Virginia bishop Michael Bransfield, who has been accused of sexual harassment, and directed the Archdiocese of Baltimore to investigate Bransfield’s conduct.

Judy Keane, a spokeswoman for the bishops’ conference, said last week that she did not know whether the third-party operator would report cases directly to law enforcement or would report only to a church official, such as the Vatican’s ambassador, who could then choose when to contact authorities. She also did not know if the thirdparty operator had already been identified.