Victims of clerical sex abuse have received unprecedented support this year, winning the chance to recount their stories to U.S. Roman Catholic bishops and influencing the prelates' new discipline policy.
But the focus is shifting, officially and among parishioners, as the priests' rights movement gains strength. The Vatican has demanded that the bishops revise the anti-abuse plan they overwhelmingly approved in June, a boost to the priests' cause. The Holy See expressed concern that the due process rights of accused clergy were being trampled.
"An awful lot of priests are complaining they've been suspended without an investigation," Philip Lawler, editor of the conservative Catholic World News, said Monday. "A few months ago, they wouldn't have been heard."
As the number of accused clergy taken off duty has increased, so has sympathy for their plight, he said. At least 300 of the 46,000 priests in the United States have either resigned or been suspended this year over molestation claims.
In some cases, parishioners have been angered by the removal of a beloved pastor who they believed was either rehabilitated or innocent. Other Catholics have been swayed by warnings from church lawyers that the bishops' plan violated the church's statute of limitations and other protections for accused clerics.
In Detroit, a parishioner started the group Opus Bono Sacerdotii -- Latin for "Work for the Good of the Priesthood" -- to help cover legal expenses for accused clergy.
New York City-area priests have formed their own advocacy group, Voice of the Ordained -- its name a twist on the burgeoning lay reform organization, Voice of the Faithful, which believes the church has mishandled abuse cases and should involve the laity more in decision-making.
In Worcester, Mass., some parishioners angered that their priest had been ousted over an abuse claim held a vigil in his support last month, singing the Civil War anthem "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
Barbara Blaine, a leader of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests in Chicago, where some disciplined clergy have appealed their punishments to the Vatican, attributed the change partly to molesters who "take on the role of victim once they're caught."
"It's a typical response," she said. "I think they also have successfully planted an idea that there's lots of false allegations, which is not true."
The Rev. Thomas Doyle, an advocate for abuse victims who has also expressed concern for priests' rights, said some Catholics are focusing on due process issues to avoid confronting the tougher problem of abuse.
"It's a handy mechanism to use to protract the denial process," Doyle said. "Many of the lay people and the church hierarchy don't want to accept the full dimension of horror that this really is."
Russell Shaw, a former spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who has criticized church leaders for mishandling offenders in the past, argued the victims themselves have partly prompted the shift.
There is a growing sentiment among Catholics that victims will be dissatisfied no matter what reforms the bishops implement, and that the advocates are simply seeking revenge against the church, Shaw said.
"Many Catholics have begun to feel that revenge isn't the answer," Shaw said. "Just punishment is part of the answer and so is reconciliation."
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors' Network, has been contacting priest advocacy groups to set up meetings and explain the victims' position, hoping the two sides can find some common ground.
Since the ongoing problem of sex abuse in the church exploded last January with a crisis in the Boston Archdiocese, Clohessy has worried that victims had a limited time to make changes in the church before the momentum swung the other way. Now he fears that time may be waning.
"There is so much horrific disclosure of sex abuse that, psychologically, it's comforting for some people to think maybe these men can molest just once," said Clohessy, who addressed the bishops at their June meeting. "We all want to put this behind us, but we just can't."