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   Catholic Church Votes to Keep Abusive Priests

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Topic: Catholic Church Votes to Keep Abusive Priests (Read 705 times)

Rhune
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Catholic Church Votes to Keep Abusive Priests
« on: Aug 11^th, 2002, 1:25am »

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Orders Vote to Keep Abusive Priests
Sat Aug 10, 8:44 PM ET
By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Leaders of Roman Catholic religious orders on Saturday decided that sexually abusive priests should be kept away from children but not expelled, a less restrictive plan than the zero-tolerance policy bishops adopted earlier this summer.

Victim advocates immediately criticized the plan, saying it gives orders too much freedom in disciplining guilty priests. They also noted the policy was NOT MANDATORY, since the conference does not have the authority to make the plan binding.

The Conference of Major Superiors of Men, an association of heads of groups such as Bendictines and Jesuits, also acknowledged their members had sometimes failed to sufficiently discipline errant clergy in the past.

"We are deeply sorry for that and publicly apologize for whenever and however we have failed victims or families," they said in the document, which won overwhelming approval by the leaders. "These religious priests or brothers who have molested children or adolescents have broken the bonds of trust invested in them. We feel this hurt deeply."

The vote came at the conclusion of the organization's annual meeting, where spiritual leaders discussed how the abuse policy American bishops approved two months ago in Dallas could be adapted for their religious communities. About 15,000 of the 46,000 U.S. priests belong to the orders.

Conference leaders, drawing on the findings of experts on sex offenders, said they believe some abusers can recover and serve the church in administrative jobs far from young people.

In their document Saturday, the religious orders pledged the men would undergo treatment and remain under close watch. They also added language, suggested during the floor debate, that anyone who violated restrictions set by their orders could be dismissed.

The plan also creates review boards to monitor how their communities handle offenders.

Some victim advocates have demanded that all errant clergy be ousted from the priesthood.

"This is not a new chapter for religious orders in this crisis. This is the same story we've heard before," said Mark Serrano, a national board member of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. He said the conference should have agreed to let prosecutors scour the orders' personnel files to see if some offenders had escaped punishment.

Like the bishops, religious communities will bar abusers from any positions that require face-to-face contact with parishioners.

But the bishops decided to remove offenders from all church work and, in some cases, from the priesthood entirely.

The orders believe that approach is too harsh. Priests take vows of poverty when they join religious communities, and the communities say they function as families. They felt strongly that their approach should be guided by the Catholic belief in redemption for sinners.

"Just as a family does not abandon a member convicted of serious crimes, we cannot turn our backs on our brother," the statement read.

The Rev. Canice Connors, the conference president, said in his opening address earlier in the week that he thought the bishops were "paralyzed in remorse" when they developed their policy and he accused them of scapegoating errant clergy. He has spent two decades overseeing treatment for abusive priests and believes some can be rehabilitated.

The Rev. Ted Keating, a Marist and the conference executive director, said he could not imagine any order failing to participate, considering the public outrage about abuse in the church.

The conference also voted Saturday to improve support services for victims and start educational programs to prevent abuse. The findings of the national review board will be made public.

Order priests are not completely independent from the church hierarchy. Under church law, bishops have authority over religious-order clergy serving within a diocese. Dozens of the estimated 300 clergymen taken off duty this year because of abuse claims are members of religious communities.

Staff members from both the bishops' and the religious orders' conferences plan to meet in a month or so to further discuss discipline for abusive priests.

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Rhune
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Re: Catholic Church Votes to Keep Abusive Priests
« Reply #1 on: Aug 11^th, 2002, 1:27am »

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:furious2: :rifle: :wail:

gosh this really pisses me off...

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east
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Re: Catholic Church Votes to Keep Abusive Priests
« Reply #2 on: Aug 11^th, 2002, 2:37am »

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what i want to do to them ~ :punch:

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BlankWillWin
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Re: Catholic Church Votes to Keep Abusive Priests
« Reply #3 on: Aug 11^th, 2002, 10:48am »

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I guess that I don't see what advantage there would be in defrocking an abusive priest. If there's enough evidence to convict him in criminal court, then do so, certainly, but otherwise if they keep him in the order, in counseling, and away from kids, there is at least an element of control. If they kick him out, where will he receive counselling, and what will keep him away from children?

Eric.

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Rhune
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Re: Catholic Church Votes to Keep Abusive Priests
« Reply #4 on: Aug 11^th, 2002, 12:58pm »

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I think what bothers me most about this is that it's not mandatory, individual bishops are not required to remove abusive priests from working with children. That's where this becomes a travesty.. we've already seen how some bishops handle abusive priests - they settle out of court, give them confession, and then put them right back in with more children.

All I know is if I were a catholic and I had paid a lot of money into the collection plate, I'd be pretty disenchanted to find out about all these settled out of court lawsuits.

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BlankWillWin
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Re: Catholic Church Votes to Keep Abusive Priests
« Reply #5 on: Aug 11^th, 2002, 2:01pm »

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on Aug 11^th, 2002, 12:58pm, Rhune wrote:

I think what bothers me most about this is that it's not mandatory, individual bishops are not required to remove abusive priests from working with children.

Neither the American Conference of Bishops, nor the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, have the authority to make the policies manditory, though. A Bishop is called a Prince of the Church for a reason. Within their diocese, a Bishop exercises largely unlimited control, so these conferences cannot do more than make policy recomendations to the Bishops.

Eric.

« Last Edit: Aug 11^th, 2002, 2:04pm by BlankWillWin »

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Rhune
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Re: Catholic Church Votes to Keep Abusive Priests
« Reply #6 on: Aug 11^th, 2002, 2:04pm »

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Whether it's policy or not, it's a shame.

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