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GRASSROOTS CATHOLICS: BISHOPS DIDN'T GO FAR ENOUGH

June 4, 2002

Chicago, June 4, 2002 -- "The bishops have clearly made progress, but they haven't gone far enough in dealing with this crisis of leadership," said Linda Pieczynski, spokesperson for Call to Action.

Call To Action, the largest grassroots Catholic Church reform organization in the country, was commenting on the proposals issued today by the U.S. Bishops Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse.

The independence of the review boards is a key issue. CTA is pleased to see the bishops affirming their concern with "issues related to effective consultation of the laity and the participation of God's people in decision-making that affects their well being." But Pieczynski cautioned, "If a national review board is appointed by the president of the bishops' conference, that board is not independent. CTA has recommended that a national review board be chosen by a commitee composed of representatives from all Diocesan Pastoral Councils so that is is not beholden to the undue influence of the bishops."

At the diocesan level, these review boards are going to become very important, because they will be reviewing past offenses, as well as future ones. They need to have the freedom to make independent decisions.

"CTA is pleased to see that future clergy sex abusers will be ousted from the priesthood. But the bishops don't go far enough. We support the removal from priesthood of all clergy who commit felony sex abuse, both past and future. Felony sex offenders should be removed from the priesthood," said Pieczynski.

We also see as positive the bishops' intention to report all future offenses to law enforcement officers. These are the people who have the competence to carry out investigations. We go further, recommending that the bishops turn over all the files of past offenses, so they can be investigated by competent and unbiased authorities.

Furthermore, we want the bishops to set up a national victims' hotline, so that any victim who does not feel comfortable reporting an abuse at the diocesan office has somewhere else to turn to. If it is easy and safe for complaints to be made, there is more chance that we will hear if the system is failing.

CTA's Recommendations for Policy on Sexual Abuse of Minors, developed with advice from abuse survivors and people with expertise in civil law, church law, priestly formation, therapy, and diocesan sexual abuse policies were mailed in mid-May to every U.S. Catholic Bishop and all 25,000 CTA members. Full text of the recommendations can be found at http://www.cta-usa.org/responses/sexabuse_recommendations.html

Call To Action is a national organization of 25,000 laity, religious, priests and bishops with its national office in Chicago. It has 40 local chapters. It advocates for reforms in the Catholic Church such as the ordination of women, optional celibacy for priests, more focus on the church's social justice teaching, and consultation with the Catholic people on church decision-making and sexuality issues. Their comprehensive web site is at www.cta-usa.org.

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CONTACT: Don Wedd (773) 404 0004 X 270 or Linda Pieczynski, after hours, (630) 323-6924


Clarification of Call To Action's
Recommendations for a Policy on Sexual Abuse of Minors

Call To Action fully supports the immediate removal from ministry and from the priesthood of any priest found guilty of sexual molestation of a minor. In fact, we further support the removal from ministry of an accused priest during the period of investigation of the allegation against him. These are felony crimes and cannot, under any circumstance, be tolerated by the Church. We share the outrage of the entire nation at the bishops' failure to deal with priest perpetrators in this manner.

We chose not to use the term "zero tolerance" in our recommendations because it does not clearly, precisely and objectively define what behavior is covered, and thus would lead to further excuses, cover-ups, and twisted rationalizations of the criminal actions of priests by Church officials. Our Cardinals have already demonstrated that they are unable to make the call about what kind of behavior by priests cannot be tolerated by only calling for zero tolerance against notorious, serial pedophiles.

We also have not chosen to be simply critics of what the bishops will propose but to develop, after consultation with knowledgeable groups and individuals, a thoughtful, nuanced, workable proposal. For a clear, precise and objective standard to which the general public and the Catholic laity could hold the bishops and clergy accountable, we turned to the criminal justice system. Our recommendations state, "In those cases of the sexual abuse of a minor adjudicated by the criminal justice system where the priest is found guilty of a felony, he should be permanently removed from active ministry, divested of authority to perform priestly duties and the canonical process for returning him to the lay state should be initiated. If the priest pleads guilty to a misdemeanor as part of a plea agreement but sufficient evidence existed to prove a felony offense took place, he should be permanently removed from active ministry, divested of authority to perform priestly duties and the canonical process for returning him to the lay state should be initiated." This same punishment would apply to cases which must be adjudicated by an independent review board because the statute of limitations has expired or other difficulties have left a case unresolved by the criminal justice system.

A further concern we had about the term "zero tolerance," is that it might be used to coerce victims of crimes less serious than rape, molestation, sexual assault, or other felonies from reporting those crimes. For example, in the State of Illinois, an adult who puts his arm around an unwilling teen's waist can be charged with battery. This is a misdemeanor offense. The severe penalty of removal from the priesthood for a priest charged with this crime might discourage a victim from reporting it. Our desire was to affirm the investigation of all alleged criminal behavior by priests, whatever the severity. In cases where a priest has been found guilty of a misdemeanor, our policy recommends, "after serving the sentence imposed and receiving appropriate therapy, the case should be evaluated by the independent review board to determine whether or not the priest might be reassigned to a ministry without putting minors at risk or whether he should be permanently removed from active ministry, divested of authority to perform priestly duties and the canonical process for returning him to the lay state be initiated."

In the end, someone will have to determine the exact nature of the behavior covered by the term "zero tolerance." At Call To Action, we recommend that that determination be made by the criminal justice system, and by independent review boards the majority of whose members should be lay people, not employed by the church, with parents, teachers, mental health, social work, law enforcement, legal professionals and victims or victim advocates represented. We must create clear, transparent, enforceable, and nationally binding policies which are thoughtful and nuanced in their approach to deal with the criminal behavior of priests.

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