VATICAN CITY -- Five days after rejecting the U.S. bishops'
sweeping zero tolerance policy against clerical sex abuse, the Vatican
announced the names Wednesday of the joint American-Vatican commission that
will revise the plan.
American members of the commission are Cardinal Francis George of Chicago,
Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco, Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford,
Ill., and Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn.
The Vatican will be represented by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who heads
the Congregation for Clergy; Monsignor Julian Herranz, who heads the Council
for Legislative Texts; Monsignor Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Monsignor Francesco Monterisi,
secretary of the Congregation for Bishops.
No schedule for their meetings was announced, but they are expected to begin
work soon because Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, said he hoped they would complete their work in time for a
meeting of all American bishops in mid-November.
While expressing support for the efforts of U.S. bishops to stamp out sex
abuse, the Vatican refused Friday to give its approval to the policy because of
conflicts with church law followed around the world.
Speaking that day, Castrillon Hoyos said formulas must be found to punish
abusers that do not conflict with "fundamental principles of the
church."
The American plan, adopted in Dallas in June in response to an outcry over
hundreds of abuse claims revealed this year, calls for removing a priest from
his ministry, and in some instances from the priesthood itself, after a
"credible" allegation was made.
Cardinal George, speaking a few days before the Vatican's decision was
announced, said he expected the pope to grant a waiver from church law so the
bishops could implement the policy.