The nation's Roman Catholic bishops said Thursday they have
restructured their committee that drafts policies on how dioceses should
discipline priests who molest children.
Two panel members who were criticized heavily by victims advocates -- Bishop
John McCormack of Manchester, N.H., and Auxiliary Bishop A. James Quinn of
Cleveland -- have been removed and the eight-member panel has been expanded to
15.
The expansion of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse was included in the
reform plan the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted in June,
hoping to ease the clerical sex abuse crisis fracturing the church.
The new committee will oversee a review of that plan in two years, and will
discuss possible local and national meetings with victims.
The panel also will meet with the heads of religious orders, such as the
Franciscans and Benedictines, who last month adopted a less stringent abuse
policy than the bishops, refusing to oust errant clergy from all church work
and instead pledging to help them rehabilitate. The bishops agreed to remove
guilty priests from public ministry, and in some cases, the priesthood
altogether.
Bishop Wilton Gregory, the conference president, had removed McCormack as
chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee earlier this year, though McCormack had stayed
on the panel. Before becoming bishop in New Hampshire, McCormack was an
administrator in the Boston Archdiocese and is now a defendant in civil abuse
cases in Massachusetts.
Quinn had angered victims in a speech on church law he gave years ago, when he
suggested church leaders could send documents related to abuse cases to Vatican
officials, who have immunity from civil authorities.
Bishop John Gaydos of Jefferson City, Mo., remains a committee member. He is
accused in a lawsuit of conspiring to cover up molestation by the Rev. Anthony
O'Connell, who resigned this year as bishop of Palm Beach, Fla., after
admitting he abused a seminary student in Missouri more than 25 years ago.
Gaydos has denied the allegations.
Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis will remain chairman of the
committee.