Prominent advocates for people who have been abused by priests said yesterday that the bishops' draft plan for responding to the crisis of clerical misconduct included some positive approaches. But several also scorned the plan's failure to include sanctions for bishops who have transferred priests from parish to parish, and their criticisms suggested that the plan would not calm protests by victims' groups, which have been growing.
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said that if the bishops showed "serious consistent follow-through on turning allegations over to law enforcement immediately, that would be progress."
But Mr. Clohessy was caustic about much of the bishops' plan, saying, "These suggestions are long on exquisite hairsplitting about abusers, short on specifics about enforcement and silent on corrupt church leaders who have reassigned molesters and covered up their crimes."
Other abuse victims also expressed skepticism, noting that the bishops had issued a similar, though less sweeping plan a decade ago. The provisions of the earlier plan were ignored in many dioceses.
"One problem we have is that even if they approve this so-called reform, it'll not be binding because the bishops can't tell each other what to do," said Marilyn Hoard, of Petaluma, Calif., whose son was molested by a priest in 1973. "I think this is just propaganda."
Such views contrasted with an enthusiastic reception given the proposals by several criminal prosecutors who have been investigating clergy sex abuse. The prosecutors were especially pleased by a pledge in the plan that church officials will report all accusations about priests to law enforcement authorities.
"That's very encouraging, it's all that prosecutors have been asking
for from the beginning," said Michael K. Allen, the prosecuting attorney for Hamilton County, Ohio, who is Catholic. Mr. Allen recently subpoenaed records detailing sexual misconduct by priests from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
Leaders of influential Roman Catholic organizations and a group that specializes in drafting abuse prevention techniques praised the sweeping scope of the bishops' draft plan, as well as the spirit of humility and contrition that they said seemed to have inspired it.
"I like the spirit of it," said Stephanie Anderson, the district attorney of Cumberland County, Me., another Catholic prosecutor. She has been reviewing the records of 37 priests accused of abuse over several decades in the Portland Diocese.
"Letting law enforcement handle investigations while setting up lay boards within the church to review cases — these seem to be appropriate policies," Ms. Anderson said. "But this is only a partial solution, because Catholics still view priests as godlike figures. There needs to be a broader cultural change in the church's view of the relationship between priest and flock."
Sidney Johnson, president of Prevent Child Abuse America, a Chicago-based group that has developed prevention programs in 450 communities, called the plan "a promising first step." He praised the proposal that every diocese establish procedures to make it difficult for priests to be alone with children and to educate children, parents and educators to detect inappropriate behavior by priests.
Christopher Dixon, a onetime Missouri seminarian whose accusations of abuse provoked the resignation of the bishop of Palm Beach, Fla., in March, said, "I'm encouraged by what they're saying." But he added, "The bishops are still going to have to answer for how they handled or mishandled these cases in the past."
Linda Pieczynski, a spokeswomanfor Call to Action, a grass-roots Catholic reform group, said: "The bishops have clearly made progress, but they haven't gone far enough in dealing with this crisis of leadership."
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and
Civil Rights, said he was encouraged by the plan's pledge that dioceses will stop entering confidentiality agreements, which have kept victims silent about priestly crimes, unless the victims insist on them.
"That goes a long way toward breaking the code of secrecy," he said. But he said a breach remained between bishops and the laity.
"The big damage has been done to young people," Mr. Donohue said. "An entire generation of adolescents has lost confidence in the church, and you don't win that back just by listing guidelines that make sense."