by Priests and Bishops.  The Vatican response.

Links to very recent letters and responses

We're familiar with the meeting of the United States Bishops in Dallas this Summer, and their charter to protect young people.  The links above provide the details of the Charter, Bishop Gregory's Address, other Statements and Presentations and the final document awaiting Recognitio, Vatican approval.  The Vatican responded on Friday, 18 October.  As believers we can await further response from our Bishops and Cardinals and trust that, as always, God will direct us in the way he wants us to go.

 Scroll own for more about the Vatican response.

The Vatican formally announced on Friday, 18 October 2002 that the agreement the United States Catholic Bishops reached on how to deal with priests and bishops accused of pedophilia needs to be amended because it conflicts with Church law.

According to Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "the Holy See has identified several areas that it believes need further discussion and greater precision in order to guarantee that our plan of action for the protection of our children will avoid misinterpretation and be in full accord with the universal law of the church."

Pope John Paul II spelled out his objections to the American agreement in a two-page letter that was given to Bishop Gregory during his meeting with the Holy Father.  The U.S. bishops adopted a resolution last June that fell short of the "zero tolerance" policy some bishops wanted but made it much easier to remove a priest for molesting a child. Under the June agreement, any charge of sexual abuse first must be reported to law enforcement authorities, then to the diocese, which is to cooperate fully with police.

Although each diocese has some flexibility on how to handle the situation, the accused priest will be removed from the parish, forbidden to wear clerical dress and barred from saying Mass publicly. If a priest admits the abuse or is found guilty of it, it is likely that he would be asked to seek laicization, a process that would permanently remove him from the priesthood.

While the Vatican supports the U.S. bishops' efforts to stamp out clergy abuse of minors, it said the policy contained provisions that were "difficult to reconcile" with church law, were difficult to interpret and left open procedural questions that needed to be resolved.

The Vatican objected to the lack of an appeal process, as required by canon (church) law, its elimination of a statute of limitations and the provision requiring that accusations be turned over to police immediately.   For these reasons, the Vatican has asked that the Charter be given further reflection and be revised to conform itself to church law.  The response was signed by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Congregation of Bishops and proposed the creation of a joint U.S.-Vatican commission to revise the policy.  Click here for Bishop Gregory's letter concerning the formation of that commission.

In a letter released with Re's response, Bishop Wilton Gregory, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was "happy to accept" the proposal for a mixed commission to "reflect further on and consider revision" of some of the norms. Speaking later at a news conference in Rome, Gregory said he expected the commission to wrap up its work by next month - in time for a meeting of all U.S. bishops.

In bishop Gregory's opinion, the Vatican statement does not stop U.S. bishops from implementing the norms of the Charter.  "It simply says let us sit down and talk together about issues that need to be clarified or modified so that 'recognitio' can be granted to the norms," he said.

Many had expected the Vatican would not automatically approve the resolution but would send it back to the bishops for more clarification and, as the Vatican has stated, "greater precision."  Ever since it was adopted, Vatican officials and American church law experts have said the norms might violate church law because they would deprive accused priests of their due process rights.  The experts have also criticized the broad definition the bishops gave to sexual abuse and the removal of the statute of limitations for claims to be lodged.

A senior Vatican official said Friday that it was clear that those norms that conflict with church law regarding the due process rights of priests "must be dropped."  And one of the Vatican cardinals who reviewed the policy said it was important to maintain the trust relationship between bishops and priests.

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who heads the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy, also said that "formulas have to be found which on the one hand are a strong and clear answer to such a serious crime - one of the most serious crimes - but at the same time do not go against the fundamental principles of the church."

Those who have seen the pope's letter to Gregory said the pontiff was sympathetic to the bishops' position but was not willing to approve a document that didn't strictly adhere to canon (church) law.

The June meeting of the bishops was certainly the result of many Americans who were deeply troubled by accusations of sexual abuse of minors by priests and some bishops.  Americans were also very upset about the handling of those priests who were sometimes just reassigned to a different parish immediately, or after attending a treatment program for sexual abusers.

In April, the pope called U.S. cardinals to Rome for a meeting at the Vatican to discuss the problem. One theologian in the United States described the highly unusual papal call as a visit to the "woodshed" for the U.S. cardinals.

So, today we await further clarification by our own bishops and cardinals.  Although some will be distressed by these words from the Vatican, we can feel fortunate that the church is so careful to consider all the implications of giving its "recognitio" to this document.  In the days and weeks again we can expect to hear more.  As our bishops and cardinals speak, I'll add links and comments to this page.

Let's pray for victims of sexual abuse, for our Church, for priests who are innocent, and also for those who have abused and for those who have covered up that abuse.  May God help us see our way through this difficult time and mold us into the people he has created and called us to be!

WASHINGTON (October 18, 2002) -- Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued the following statement, October 18, at North American College, Rome, on the establishment of the Vatican-U.S. Bishops' Mixed Commission related to the U.S. Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and its accompanying norms.

Bishop Gregory's statement follows, along with related correspondence between Bishop Gregory and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops.
 

As President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I am announcing today, together with the Holy See, that a Mixed Commission is being appointed by the Holy See and our Episcopal Conference to engage in further reflection on and revision of the

Essential Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse
of Minors by Clergy or Other Church Personnel, as well as the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, adopted by our Conference at its semi-annual meeting last June in Dallas.

The Mixed Commission will be made up of four Bishops representing the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and four representatives from dicasteries of the Holy See that have competence in matters relating to the Norms and the Charter. The Episcopal representatives from the Holy See will be appointed from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for Bishops, the Congregation for Clergy and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. I am now in the process appointing the Bishops who will serve as representatives of our Conference.

In a letter that I received earlier this week from Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, the Holy See expressed its complete solidarity with the Bishops of the United States in our condemnation of the sexual abuse that has occurred within our dioceses and eparchies. It also acknowledged our efforts at addressing these difficult problems, recognizing in particular the central role of the Charter and the Norms in our work towards protecting minors and avoiding future recurrences of these abuses.

In acknowledging these efforts, the Holy See has identified several areas in these two documents that it believes need further discussion and greater precision in order to guarantee that our plan of action for the protection of our children will avoid misinterpretation and be in full accord with the universal law of the Church. There are three areas named in particular.

 

1. The Holy See wants to look at some of the provisions for action that we have called for in these documents, because as they are currently described they "are difficult to reconcile with the universal law of the Church" and, therefore, "can be the source of confusion and ambiguity." An example would be the proper role of the review boards to be established in each of the dioceses and eparchies, as these are described in Article 2 of the Charter and Articles 4 and 5 of the Norms.
   
    
2. The Holy See also wants to look at some of the language that has been used in these two documents, because "the experience of the last few months has shown that the terminology of these documents is at times vague or imprecise and therefore difficult to interpret." An example would be the use of the term "sexual abuse" which appears in Article 5 of the Charter and is defined in a footnote to that document.
   
    
3. The Holy See has likewise indicated that it would like to see further specification of "the concrete manner in which the procedures outlined in the Norms and the Charter are to be applied in conjunction with the requirements of the Code of Canon Law and the Motu proprio Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela..." An example would be the procedures for dealing with a priest who is known to have abused a minor. These procedures are identified in Article 5 of the Charter and Articles 7-12 of the Norms.

The purpose of the Commission is to bring the best wisdom of the Holy See and our Episcopal Conference to a discussion of these issues. Our goal is to finish our work in time for the results to be presented to our Episcopal Conference at our Plenary Assembly next month, and this effort will be a fully collaborative work. As one Cardinal Prefect said to me this week, when you describe the work before us to others please stress that it does not represent a conflict between the Holy See and your Episcopal Conference. Our task, he said, is one in which we will exercise "deep communion" in order to achieve "common agreement."

That comment describes perfectly the spirit that has been communicated to me during the past several months in my communications with the Holy See. The Officials of the Roman Curia who have been involved with me in discussions on this matter, particularly this week, have shown great pastoral care in their sensitivity to the pain caused to victims, their commitment to the need to protect society from perpetrators of abuse, their regard for the respect that needs to be shown for the rights of the accused, and their pain at the anguish caused to faithful Catholics by this sinful and criminal conduct. I am deeply grateful to the Officials of the Curia for their fraternal solicitude, their counsel and their encouragement.

Above all, the Bishops of the United States are grateful beyond words to the Holy Father for strengthening his brothers in this time of trial. His address last April to the Cardinals of the United States and the Officers of our Conference gave us the inspiration that was needed to work toward a solution to this crisis in Dallas last June.

I am fully confident that the inspiration of the Mixed Commission will provide us with the guidance to bring this work to completion.

This appears on the Web Site, Father Pat's Place at: http://frpat.com

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