| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cardinal sees progress in fighting sex abuseBishops hold conference in week marked by resignations
ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) -- With U.S. Roman Catholic bishops gathering Thursday for their annual meeting, Cardinal Roger Mahony praised church efforts this year to protect children from sexual abuse by priests and weed out predatory clergy. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in St. Louis comes a year after church leaders met in Dallas, Texas, to deal with the sexual abuse scandal. But one critic, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, warned that the Catholic leadership must persist in efforts to fight the scourge of abuse. Keating stepped down this week as head of a board monitoring the church's response to the scandal. In a Thursday op-ed piece for The New York Times, Keating lashed out at what he called "the efforts of a small minority of church leaders to obstruct the workings of the board." "If the bishops act as if it [sex abuse reform] is settled and move on to other issues, they will face some very harsh questions from many of their parishioners when they return home," he wrote. On CNN's "American Morning," Mahony, the Los Angeles, California, archbishop, said the church has made "unprecedented improvement in one year." "It's a very positive step, and that will only improve in this meeting is to see where we are, what we need to do," Mahony said. "We're getting the job done." Mahony's remarks follow in the wake of two additional blows to church credibility -- Keating's resignation and criticism and the case of Phoenix Bishop Thomas O'Brien, who resigned after being charged in a fatal hit-and-run accident. Keating left his post on the National Review Board after controversial remarks in a newspaper interview in which he compared the secrecy of some church leaders with the Mafia. "A number of serious officials in my faith have very clay feet," Keating told the Los Angeles Times. "To act like La Cosa Nostra and hide and suppress, I think, is very unhealthy." Keating also remarked that "I think there are a number of bishops -- and I put Cardinal Mahony in that category -- who listen too much to his lawyer and not enough to his heart." He stood by his comments after criticism from other board members. In his New York Times piece, Keating challenged board critics who said "we went too far, engaging in what one resistant diocesan newspaper termed a 'witch hunt.' "This is not about pilfering Saturday night bingo proceeds; it concerns horrific actions by a small cadre of priests who have victimized hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of children and adolescents, and defiled the institution they claimed to serve." Keating wrote he is "optimistic that the church -- my church -- will ultimately protect the innocent and hold the guilty accountable" and said "the bishops, as they gather for their annual meeting today in St. Louis, must make the abuse issue a central part of their agenda, as they did last year when they crafted a no-tolerance policy and created the lay board." Mahony called it "unfortunate" that he never met with Keating, but he said he has met with other review board members. He said he has "great respect" for the former governor, calling him a man of "deep faith and wonderful commitment." The Phoenix case also has resonated among bishops. O'Brien stepped down after being charged Tuesday with leaving the scene of a fatal traffic accident over the weekend. He recently had avoided prosecution on charges of covering up sexual abuse by priests by agreeing to have the Phoenix Diocese pay $700,000 to the county attorney's office to compensate and provide counseling for victims and to pay investigative costs. "The situation in Phoenix is one of great tragedy. It was tragic a few weeks ago, it's even more tragic now," said Archbishop John Meyers of Newark, New Jersey. "Our heart goes out to the man who was killed and his family with great sorrow, and as far as any involvement of Bishop O'Brien ... it's in the hand of the authorities, and I think that's where it belongs." Bishop Joseph Galante of Dallas said, "It reminds one of the Book of Job, where one calamity after another is visited on the church of Phoenix, and it's a terrible tragedy." 'Huge cultural shift in the Catholic Church'
Following moves at last year's conference, Mahony told CNN the "emphasis and the focus needs to be on the job ... to make the church safe for children and young people." "We passed all kinds of statements and plans and action plans," Mahony said. "I'm very, very proud of the work the bishops have done across the country. "We're working together with many, many lay leaders. The bishops are not doing this by ourselves. We have our best talented lay people taking leadership roles, helping us with leadership and with governance." Review board member Jane Chiles said, "Clearly, what the charter calls for is a huge cultural shift in the Catholic Church here in the United States, and that kind of shift never will come easily. "We are very pleased, as the cardinal said, with much of the progress that has been made, but just as we know in so many difficult matters, we meet with pockets of resistance. However, those pockets of resistance will be held to accountability, and no bishop wants to be on the kinds of lists that we will be issuing." Mahony said he has met with Kathleen McChesney, a retired FBI agent who has been appointed to run the church's Office of Child and Youth Protection, established in the wake of last year's scandals. McChesney said she sees optimism among some victims' rights groups "that the bishops are attempting to implement some safe environment programs that will protect children in the future." But David Clohessy, a representative of a network of abuse survivors, said, "The sad reality is, despite a year and a half of horrific disclosures, despite repeated promises to try harder and do better, most bishops fundamentally are still dealing with this in the same patterns, the same patterns of secrecy and denial."
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
