Related articles and links |  1 of 3

The Dallas Morning News reviews what bishops knew
For the last three months The Dallas Morning News has studied what U.S. bishops knew and did about sexual abuse in their dioceses. In results released today, the paper reports that "roughly two-thirds of the top U.S. Catholic leaders have allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to keep working."

The study finds that 111 of 178 bishops either ignored warnings about suspicious behavior or failed to dismiss priests after admissions of wrongdoing, diagnoses of sexual disorders, legal settlements, or even criminal convictions. The 111 bishops are from at least 40 states and eight are now cardinals in U.S. archdioceses.

Today's article looks at the shadow these findings cast on this week's bishops' meeting in Dallas and explains why bishops would have allowed accused priests to stay in their parishes or be moved to other communities. Two of the common explanations of bishops's actions are "they did what they did many years ago [and] on the advice of skilled therapists who had treated the priests."

While many of the cases now being exposed are decades old, The Dallas Morning News found several examples of accused priests transferred or left in their congregations since the late 1990s.

The Rev. Francis Maniscalco, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the paper that deciding on the best methods to handle clergy sexual abuse has been an issue for decades and individual bishops made the most prudent choices they could.

"Why should anybody's feet be held to the fire?" he asked. "The bishops made what they thought were prudent decisions at the time. The decisions were made on the best advice available."

Other stories on the sex abuse scandal include:

• The head of the Catholic bishops group gains stature amid church scandal | One key American figure has gained stature this year -- Bishop Wilton Gregory, the prelate who will lead this week's conference. (Associated Press)
  
  
• Two more bishops resign in sex scandal church | Leaders to meet to discuss policy on abusive priests (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Also: Bishop quits as others prepare to meet on abuse scandal (The New York Times)
  
  
• Also: Two bishops step down in Catholic sex scandal (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Bishops confront demands to give more power to laity | As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops prepares to convene Thursday in Dallas for the first time since the scandal erupted, the bishops face a day of judgment. (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Also: Bishop quits as others prepare to meet on abuse scandal (The New York Times)
  
  
• People in the pews speak out on web | Voice of the Faithful receives over 500 e-mails a day on scandal. (Newsday)
  
  
• Once a victim, a priest wants zero tolerance | He became a priest, but also became the president of a victims' group. (The New York Times)
  
  
• Four churches, one priest: ministry's new math | Pastor logs miles as he tends to flocks in age of Catholic clergy shortage. (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Bishops may meet with victims' group | Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Monday that he would contact members of SNAP. (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Church abuse policy criticized by Texas author (Daily Texan)
  
  
• Lawyers question Brooklyn bishop on what he knew of priest abuse allegations | Bishop Thomas Daily of Brooklyn was questioned Monday about his dealings with a defrocked priest whose case sparked the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic church. (Associated Press)
  
  
• Scholars say prayer not enough in scandal | After decades in which the Catholic Church frequently described the crisis in theological terms, many bishops and others are saying one lesson they have learned is that spirituality is not enough. (The Boston Globe)

next page... |  1 of 3

June (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46