The head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops today brushed aside criticism from victims' groups that the stance bishops adopted on sexually abusive priests is not tough enough, insisting that offenders will no longer be in a position to harm youngsters.
Clerical offenders "have lost their license to practice," said southern Illinois Bishop Wilton Gregory, head of the conference which wrapped up a landmark two-and-a-half-day meeting today in which it decided to bar sexually abusive clergy members from priestly duties.
"They are no longer allowed to identify themselves as a Catholic priest. They are like lawyers who have no license; they have been disbarred," Bishop Gregory told NBC television's Meet the Press.
Yesterday, members of victims' groups like the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) charged that the new measures fell short of what was needed.
The bishops voted 239 to 13 Friday to adopt the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People." Only 252 of the 288 bishops in attendance at the Dallas, Texas, meeting took part in the vote.
The approved charter was not the widely sought "zero-tolerance" policy that would have immediately defrocked an offending priest, and left open the possibility that offenders could be allowed to conduct mass in private and might still be permitted to administer last rites to the dying.
AFP